Squatters wait in vain for new flats
27/07/2005 The Star By Derrick Vinesh
MORE than 200 squatter families in Jalan Raja Uda, Butterworth, have been waiting for nearly eight years for their new flats that have yet to be built.

Their spokesman, W.L. Goay, said 92 of the over 200 families had in 1997 signed a compensation agreement with Cherating Development Sdn Bhd to receive a medium-cost flat unit each within its development project nearby.

“The over RM1bil development project had earlier run into some problems and is now being rehabilitated by Woolley Development Sdn Bhd since 2001.

“The developer has not started work on Block B, which consists of 198 medium-cost units, to accommodate the affected residents,” he told a dialogue session with State Housing Commit-tee chairman Syed Amerrudin Syed Ahmad in Raja Uda, Butterworth, recently.

Also present were Bagan Jermal assemblyman Ooi Chuan Aik, Sungai Puyu assemblyman Phee Boon Poh, Bagan MP Lim Hock Seng, and representatives from state departments and Woolley Development.

Goay said the squatters, who fondly called the area, Ang Moh Chae (White Man’s Well), were supposed to have moved into their flat units by 1999.

He said 65 of the 92 affected families had since 1997 moved into longhouses provided by the developer, and the remaining 27 received rental monthly allowances of RM400 that stopped in 1999.

“The other 100-odd families who did not sign the compensation agreement are still occupying the land. However, they were recently slapped with eviction notices,” he said.

Syed Amerrudin said he would help those who were eligible for low-cost housing units to obtain a unit at the project's Block A low-cost flats.

“I will also discuss with the developer to find alternative housing for the remaining squatters who were not offered any compensation plan,” he said.

He said Penang had 17 abandoned housing projects, adding that the state government was in the process of mediating to help revive them in stages.

A spokesman from Woolley Development said the company was in the midst of constructing low-cost Block A, which would be completed by next year.

“We will start work on Block B after we finish Block A. It is up to the state Housing Department to decide who would be offered the units,” the spokesman said.