07/04/2009 The Star

AFTER waiting for more than six years, more than 2,900 residents from Lestari Puchong received their Certificate of Fitness (CF) from the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) at a handover ceremony at the Jalan LEP 3/1 playground.

Most of the residents expressed happiness at finally getting the CFs.

Ahmad Man, 37, said that he hoped the council would now look into the facilities in the area.

“There are no facilities such as shops, community halls, or public phones and my children are schooling in Cyberjaya, which is about 20 minutes away,” he said.

However, it was not good news for all residents as the waiting for CFs continues for about 8,575 residents of Lestari Puchong.

Some of the them chose the ceremony as an opportunity to express their grievances.

One of the residents, Andri Nasran, who had been living in Taman Lestari Putra since 2003 said that it was unfair to even have the handover ceremony since some of the residents were still waiting for the CFs.

He added that only after turning up for the ceremony did some of the residents discover that only residents from certain phases obtained CFs.

Meanwhile, MPSJ council president Datuk Adnan Mohd Ikhsan said that starting from April 13, 2007, the Certificates of Completion and Compliance (CCC) would be replacing CFs.

“The CCC will be issued by professional bodies such as architects and engineers, who are selected by the developers themselves as consultants. MPSJ and other local authorities will only monitor and keep records of the development projects from time to time.

“Nevertheless, we can still issue stop-work orders if the projects are not done in compliance with the regulations,” he said.

Talam Corporation Berhad senior vice-president Tan Bak Hai was also present to provide updates about the remaining CFs. The company’s subsidiary Lestari Puchong Sdn Bhd developed Lestari Puchong.

He said that Talam had faced financial difficulties hence some of the projects were halted but added that the company had continued some of the projects.

Also present at the ceremony were Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, House Buyers Association (HBA) vice-president Brig-Gen Datuk Goh Seng Toh and some of the MPSJ councillors.

Ean said that house buyers should not be made victims when projects are abandoned.

“The state government had announced a few months ago for investors and developers to revive abandoned projects,” he said.

According to Adnan there are about 13 abandoned projects under the MPSJ area.

“We try to help new developers to take over the abandoned projects and continue it. But at the end of the day, the house buyers are the ones who suffer,” he said.