After five years, help comes for 32 house owners
The Star 19/2/2005 By DHARMENDER SINGH

THIRTY-TWO owners, whose houses in Taman Bukit Mewah in Kajang have been declared unsafe, are getting the help they badly needed – five years on. Their homes are to be rebuilt with assistance from the Public Complaints Bureau, which is under the Prime Minister's Department.  

The bureau's central region director Asmawar Samat said it would meet the Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj), the Malaysian Public Works Institute (Ikram), the developer, the affected house owners and the MP and assemblyman for the area next week to solve the issue.  

He said the problem had remained unresolved for several years due to a dispute over which party ought to carry out the necessary repairs on the houses that had developed serious cracks. 

The cracks grow bigger and longer by the day.

Asmawar said Ikram conducted an in-depth investigation and had declared that 32 houses needed to be torn down and rebuilt as repairs alone were not adequate enough to ensure the structures' safety. 

``Since the Certificate of Fitness (CF) was issued over eight years ago the developer claims that it is no longer responsible for the repairs and rebuilding, estimated to cost RM600,000,'' he said during a visit to the houses along Jalan 20 and 21 in Phase 1 of Taman Bukit Mewah. Also present were bureau deputy director-general Datuk Nahwari Hashim, Serdang MP Datuk Yap Pian Hon and officials from, besides the bureau, MPKj and Selangor Public Complaints Division. 

Jalan 20 and 21 Taman Bukit Mewah Cracked Homes Action Committee chairman Shamsuri Abdullah said their problems began five years ago.  

He said the cracks began some nine years ago, but then they were only on the floors. “It was only about five years ago that the longer and bigger cracks appeared on walls, pillars and on the ceilings,'' he said, adding that they decided to bring up the issue with MPKj.  

Following several meetings with the council, Shamsuri said Ikram was roped in two years ago to conduct tests on 48 houses. “Occupants of four houses had to vacate and their rentals elsewhere borne by the developer.''  

Not only were their homes not rebuild, the developer also stopped paying the rentals, he said. 

House owner Ng Choon Ngoh said the number, length and width of the cracks grew, first from the hall, then the dining and finally to the kitchen and her rooms.  

“Even the walls began to tilt at certain areas,'' she said, adding that her family feared that on a rainy day the roof might cave in.  

“We can't afford the rental elsewhere,'' said Ng. “So, we stayed put and hoped for the best.'' 

Yap said the safety of the house owners was paramount.  

``If they needed to be shifted to another place, then we will work to do so as soon as possible before a tragedy occurs,'' he said, adding that the developer should carry out the repairs as its social responsibility. “Not whether the CF has already been issued or not.''  

He said most of the house owners were retired government servants who used up their life savings to buy the property. “They have nowhere else to go to.''