Buyers get CF after six years

01/01/2004 The Star By Ng Su-Ann

PENANG: After a six-year wait, the 1,557 buyers of the Majestic Heights (Taman Terubong Indah) Phase One have finally obtained the Certificate of Fitness (CF) for the project.

Describing the CF as the best New Year gift, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said the buyers’ story was a rare example of so many people standing together and working patiently with the Government.

“This is also the country’s first case where the minister had invoked Section 11(1)(d) of the Housing Developers’ (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 which directed the developer to wind-up the company,” he told newsmen at the Penang International Airport yesterday before returning to Kuala Lumpur.

On whether he would invoke the section for other stalled projects, Ong said this would only be done on a case-by-case basis as it might not necessarily be the solution for every project.

Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, who was also present, said: “Despite journeying along a road filled with obstacles, the purchasers eventually triumphed owing to their spirit of working together.”

He commended Ong for making the unprecedented move to use his power to invoke Section 11(1)(d) to revive the project.

Dr Koh said credit should also be given to Paya Terubong assemblyman Datuk Dr Loh Hock Hun, other exco members and state officials.

Majestic Heights Phase One Purchasers Ad-hoc Committee adviser S.L. Chang said he, committee chairman Lim Beng Hong and vice-chairman Lee Kok Eng had waited outside Dr Loh’s office in Komtar for the good news on Tuesday.

Chang said the purchasers would be notified by post on the sum to pay for the maintenance, assessment, insurance and sinking fund, adding that they could move in after settling the sum.

On another matter, Ong said 77 of the 199 abandoned projects in the country have been revived and completed. He said 62 of the 77 projects had received their CFs.

He said these after presenting keys to purchasers of Pangsapuri Widuri in Lorong Chempa here earlier yesterday.

The project, comprising 740 low-medium and 230 low-cost units, was one of the 62 abandoned projects that had been revived after over six years.