Trouble at Gurney Heights Condo: Developer refutes claims by irate residents
The Malay Mail 4/4/2006 PAULINE ALMEIDA

KUALA LUMPUR: The developer of Gurney Heights Condominium maintains it has done its best for the housing scheme and has given its word that issues pertaining to car stickers and swimming pool are being addressed.

Mampu Jaya Sdn Bhd managing director Choy Tai Seng said most of the complaints concern free parking, and that has been resolved recently with the reduction in the fee for car stickers (for second car park) from the original RM100 monthly.

"The fee for the car stickers was reduced to RM50 since last week with at least 20 residents paying up. Those who paid RM300 in advance for the car stickers will have it spread over six months to make it convenient for them," Choy said when interviewed at his office in Jalan Kuchai Lama here yesterday.

He was responding to a report in The Malay Mail last Wednesday which had highlighted the problems faced by residents at the four-year-old condominium.

Gurney Heights Condominium Residents and Owners Association (GHRA) president Asharat Ali had said they also have no more patience after "no less than six meetings with City Hall and Mampu Jaya over the past two years to discuss their problems".

He claimed that at every meeting, residents were promised their problems would be looked into but nothing changed.

Among the problems were poor security and maintenance services and abuse of the scheme’s facilities by strangers.

They claimed that security was not up to the mark and strangers were allowed to walk in and out freely with several break-ins being recorded lately.

Choy maintained that security at the condominium was "excellent" and he described the gym facilities as "adequate". On the claims of break-ins, he promised the matter would be investigated.

However, Choy claimed that most of the problems at the condominium were due to residents being ignorant that condominium is about communal living.

He also said some people refused to settle their maintenance fees and sinking funds, estimated at RM330 monthly.

"So the claims by residents of poor service is partly due to them not paying their maintenance fees. They give a lot of excuses when they have to pay. We only collect about RM30,000 monthly when we should be receiving at least RM48,000 monthly," said Choy.

He pointed out that the bulk of the money goes to settling utility bills which amount to RM18,000, and lift maintenance (RM8,000). Salaries and spare parts take up another huge chunk of the collection.

Choy said 60 per cent of the 168 households of Phase 1 are very good residents and are happy with the service provided them.

He said he had taken over the "mess" from the previous developer which has since wound up.

On claims by residents that City Hall has done nothing to address their complaints despite it being the proprietor, Choy said that to date there are no outstanding matters with the local authority.

However, to address any further problems faced by the owners of Phase 1, Choy said he was willing to meet them in a proper manner and forum.

"This has to be attended by a broad spectrum of people from every floor. They can write or fax me about the meeting as I would like to listen to the opinion of other people, and not just a few individuals" he stressed.

Concerning GHRA, Choy questioned its representation saying that for it to be recognised it should represent at least 85 members, comprising a simple majority of the 168 units.

"But it has only about 50-odd members," said Choy, a developer with 20 years’ experience and a civil engineer by profession.