Probe into
stalled housing project
01/05/2009 The
Star By JADE CHAN
DEPUTY Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk T. Murugiah will
be holding a meeting at his office on Monday to address the issue of a
stalled housing project in Taman Saga 4, Kota Raja, Klang.
“I will call all the relevant agencies involved to attend the meeting,
including the agency that issued the developer’s licence and the
developer’s representatives, to question why it is taking so long to
complete the housing project.
“If no decision is made, the bureau will issue a show-cause letter to the
developer through the Housing and Local Government Ministry,” said
Murugiah, who heads the Public Complaints Bureau in Putrajaya.
“Based on my observations, the developer is at fault here, as all the
relevant government agencies carried out their responsibilities.
“The developer should have completed the project in May 2007 as per the
agreement, but till today has yet to fulfil all the stated requirements.”
Murugiah said he had handled similar complaints on stalled or abandoned
development projects, and referred the matter to the Housing and Local
Government Ministry.
“I’ve spoken to the Housing and Local Government Minister about such
cases. He said there were plans to amend the law so that if the developers
did not complete the housing projects within the stipulated time, they
could be slapped with a harsher penalty, including a jail sentence.
“The government is viewing this problem seriously. We will also sort out a
mechanism to help the affected housebuyers,” he said after visiting the
site to investigate the case.
The stalled project in Klang involves 46 double-storey terrace houses,
with affected house buyers claiming that the developer had issued the
vacant possession notice despite the houses not having the Certificate of
Fitness (CF) from the Klang Municipal Council (MPK) and water supply
system.
A representative from the MPK’s Building Department confirmed that they
had yet to receive any applications or supporting documents from the
developer with regards to the CF application.
M. Muruwamah said she signed the Sales & Purchase (S&P) Agreement for her
house in May 2005, but she had yet to move in, despite it being two years
since the stated date of completion (May 2007).
“We are facing a huge financial burden because we still have to service
our housing loans and pay for the rental of the place we’re staying in
temporarily.
“We are given the runaround every time we try to contact the developer’s
office to check on the status of our houses and on the late delivery claim
(liquidated ascertained damages or LAD),” said the 27-year-old clerk who
estimated that the developer owes RM19,000 in LAD so far.
“When we wrote in to Syabas, we found out that they didn’t want to give
the approval for the developer to install the water supply system as its
consultant had not followed the proper procedure.”
Muruwamah hopes that with Murugiah’s intervention, the problems will be
resolved soon and that the developer will pay the LAD that is owed to all
housebuyers.
Fellow housebuyers Tan Kian Chuan, a 32-year-old salesperson and Noor-Azua
Abu Kassim, a 30-year-old litigation clerk, also expressed their
frustration with the developer’s excuses and hoped to move into their
houses soon.
A representative from the developer Sumbangan Daya Development Sdn Bhd
said they would attend the meeting.
