Council must be firm

The Star 17/01/2006

I REFER to the story “Blessing for new proposal” in the StarMetro on Dec 12. Datuk Mokhtar Dahlan appears to be very pleased with the proposal by the developer and to quote him: “Here, we have a developer who is willing to upgrade the lake for free, listen to the residents and address their worries by downgrading the project.”

What is the track record of the developer? Some developers are known to make a lot of promises but fail to implement them.

What will the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) do if the developer fails to implement their proposed upgrading for the lake and surrounding area?

Here is the scenario I envisage:

Upon approval from MPPJ, the developer launches for sale the apartments. Sales are good and they achieve 90%.

Developer starts construction work for the apartments but does not start upgrading works. Reason - they need to collect enough progress payments to have the money for the upgrading works,

Developer completes project but still has not done the upgrades, applies for Certificate of Fitness. MPPJ refuses and wants developer to fulfil its promise.

Developer appeals stating that a few hundred purchasers will be affected and that they have to service their housing loan and pay house rental,

MPPJ relents and issues temporary CF and wants developer to upgrade immediately,

Developer cannot upgrade because there are insufficient funds and continues to renew CF upon expiry, MPPJ eventually will have to issue permanent CF otherwise developer cannot apply for Strata Title.
This scenario is not new and will repeat if the authorities do not put their foot down. What is the solution?

Impose the condition that the developer must complete the upgrading before they can start selling their apartments to the public.

This way MPPJ will not be caught in a catch-22 situation and the residents do not have to suffer later.

GOT TO KNOW
Kota Damansara