Poor condition irks apartment owners

The Star 21/6/2003 By YIP YOKE TENG

OCCUPANTS of Cemara Apartments in Taman Pinggiran Putra in Serdang are frustrated with the poor condition of their six-month-old homes.  

They find it hard to tolerate because the apartments are not equipped with basic amenities such as clean water supply and telephone lines.  

Their other grouses are that the apartments have construction defects while the maintenance and security are not up to standard.  

“Cracks are appearing on the walls and the broken fence that is left unattended to is another example of the developer’s poor product and service,” said technician Jamali Suin, 39. 

Teacher Mohd Don Nadir, 38, complained that garbage collection was not regular and the rubbish piles were often exposed. 

“We are put off by the awful stench. It attracts flies and some of the maggots sometimes crawl into our apartments,” he added.  

The residents also showed the murky water supplied to households, adding that they had to use the water for their daily needs besides having to bear with low-water pressure.  

Factory worker Aslan Hisham Osman, 33, said the security guards were not doing their job well.  

“I sometimes reach home after work at about 5am and the main entrance is left wide open! There are many foreign workers employed at the construction site just opposite our apartments, and they can come in and out freely,” he added.  

The residents said they had paid the monthly maintenance fee of RM70 a year in advance, but were not getting the service they deserved.  

Serdang MP Datuk Yap Pian Hon, who visited the site on Saturday, said he would call the developer, Perbadanan Urus Air Selangor Bhd (PUAS), Subang Jaya Municipal Council and local leaders to meet residents’ representatives to rectify the problems.  

“CFs have been issued to the residents but the units are not equipped with basic facilities, this is not reasonable and it is natural that the residents are angry and disappointed,” he said.  

Cemara Apartments project consultant C.Y. Siah, who was also present, explained that the water was murky because the in-house reservoir had just been put to use, to replace the temporary supply from PUAS.  

“We need to start using the in-house reservoir because the water pressure here is very low. As such, the water will of course be murky for the first few days,” he said. 

He added that the developer was now attending to the various complaints on the apartments’ defects.  

“The telephone lines are beyond our control, the developer has done all the internal things required and we are waiting for Telekom to lay the cables.  

“As for security matters, if they are paying medium cost and are expecting five-star service, I have nothing to say. We will look into it if the guards’ performance is not up to their expectation,” Siah said.  

Yap said the area was formerly Air Hitam Forest Reserve. “Now 15 developers have ventured in for its strategic location between Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Related parties should heed these issues to gain buyers’ confidence after the Serdang Perdana flat project had left 1,300 buyers in the lurch,” Yap said. The project was 70% complete when its developer declared bankruptcy and abandoned it in November 2001. It will soon be opened for tender.