Dream houses no more for 29 owners
27/06/2008 NST By J.P, Shah Alam Streets Mail

A ROW of terrace houses in Bukit Kemuning, Shah Alam will remain a shattered dream for 29 homeowners as the homes will demolished to make way for the Project Lebuhraya Kemuning-Shah Alam (LKSA). No amount of compensation can makeup for the heartache of not being able to move into their dream homes for which they have been waiting for two long years.

The authorities saw it fit to approve the housing project when the land had already been gazetted for the highway project, close one eye while the houses were under construction, approve the certificate of fitness, wait for some to move in and then drop the bombshell that the houses are to be demolished.

The owners are up in arms over the high-handed attitude of the land authority in not being willing to negotiate a fair deal. They are bent on taking the easy way out by passing the responsibility of awarding a fair compensation to the courts.

Single-storey terrace houses are hard to come by these days especially in urban areas. Left with no choice, they are forced to purchase double-storey link houses that cost at least 60% more. To add insult to injury, the authorities have refused to compensate the additional 24 months rental the owners have to cough out while waiting for the new houses to be completed. They are now determined to fight it out in the courts but this is sure to open a can of worms.