Tropicana folks want to know status of township

25/04/2008 The Star By Tan Karr Wei

Tropicana residents in Petaling Jaya want clarification on the status of their community so that either the developer or the local authority could be held accountable for providing services in the area.

“We pay assessment to MBPJ (Petaling Jaya City Council) but there is no maintenance in terms of road resurfacing. We need clear guidelines on the responsibilities of the developer after the handover of keys to the owners,” Tropicana Residents’ Association (TRA) president Victor Lye said.

Meeting of minds: (From left) Quek, Dr Nasir, Wong, Lye and Tropicana Residents’ Association secretary Pensy Lee during the discussion.

He added that residents in the Green Acres 1 and 2 parcels were in an unfortunate situation because they had to pay both assessment and maintenance fees.

Recently, the residents had a meeting with MBPJ officials, Tropicana Golf & Country Resort Bhd representatives, Kota Damansara assemblyman Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong and also representatives from Zaidun-Leeng Sdn Bhd, the contractors in charge of building the second tunnel leading into the township.

Tropicana Golf & Country Resort Bhd executive director Quek Cham Hong said before 1997, the developer maintained Tropicana but the association requested for the maintenance to be handed over to the local authorities because residents did not want to pay double charges.

“We now only collect fees for security services. However, Green Acres 1 and 2 were completed much later. We carry out maintenance there and it was made clear to buyers that they had to pay for the services,” Quek said.

A year after the issuance of the Certificate of Fitness (CF), the developer was prepared to handover Green Acres to the city council but the local authority did not want to take over because it was a gated community.

Quek said Tropicana was unique because an individual title was issued for each parcel of land but it was located within a gated community.

“When it was developed, there were no strata titles so we got approval from the then Petaling District Office.

Artist’s impression: A model of the second link to Tropicana.

“The Selangor Housing and Real Estate Board (LPHS) came out with a guideline that only applies to new developments so the Selangor Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) had asked the board to reassess the policy. Today, the policy has not been implemented,” Quek said.

Dr Nasir said all parties involved needed to discuss the matter with Rehda and LPHS.

MBPJ maintenance department assistant director Norariah Che Mat said there were plans to resurface selected roads in Tropicana under the 2008 budget.

“The project was put on hold because of the elections. We can’t go ahead because we do not have councillors yet and the selection of roads has to be discussed with them,” Norariah said.

MBPJ engineering department development assistant director Abdul Shukor Mohd Noor clarified that Tropicana was classified as a guarded community rather than a gated one.

However, problems arose when MBPJ took over because residents wanted to maintain the arch structure and boom gates at the entrance to the township, which was against council guidelines.

He added that if residents of Green Acres did not want to pay maintenance fees, they could apply to the MBPJ planning department to change the status of their parcel of land but they must adhere to the local authority’s planning guidelines.

Wong announced that the new MBPJ councillors were expected to be appointed by the end of the month.

Dr Nasir declined to comment on the names proposed for the new line-up of councillors.

Other matters discussed during the meeting included the worsening traffic congestion in the area, inadequate infrastructure to support the new developments there and the progress of the second tunnel leading into Tropicana.