Bungalow buyers hold protest

The Star 15/5/2006

TANJUNG MALIM: Imagine being confined inside your house for fear of tigers or wild boars roaming outside.

Bungalow purchasers at the Diamond Creek Country Retreat in Behrang are fuming over the non-maintenance of the RM1bil retreat which they claimed had attracted wild beasts to the area.

Staging a protest here yesterday, the owners demanded that the developer, Diamond Approach Sdn Bhd, maintain the retreat which had been left uncompleted for over 10 years.

House owner Valentine Siva, 66, said the 1,620ha project site was in an unkempt state as a result of neglect.

Valentine said his retirement dream home had become “a nightmare” as he and his wife now lived in fear of wild animals.

The promised clubhouse, 18-hole golf course and equestrian club are half-finished dilapidated buildings, overgrown with shrubs and infested with mosquitoes, he said.

Some house owners also complained that their orchards and bungalow plots had not seen any development since they bought them a decade ago.

There are 200 lots under Phase 1.

“Many purchasers have been paying hefty bank loans for the last 10 years. Two acquaintances died without ever seeing their homes materialising,” said Valentine.

Among the buyers present were former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Rahim Noor and former Kuala Lumpur mayor Tan Sri Kamaruzzaman Shariff.

Attempts to reach the developer for comments were unsuccessful.