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Housebuyer
wants abandoned project revived
07/07/2009 The Star By GLADYS TAY
KLUANG: A schoolteacher who saved his earnings for many years to purchase
his first house, is frustrated that the housing project was abandoned
halfway.
Ali Zainal Abidin, 40, thought his corner lot house at Taman Mengkibol
would be ideal to raise his family but the project was abandoned two years
after it was launched in 1998.
Left idle: Ali (in red) showing the Taman Mengkibol housing project that
was abandoned.
“Until today I am still serving my bank loan of RM678 per month without
the keys to my home,” he said expressing his frustration over the delay.
“I also have to spend another RM350 for the rental of another house in
Taman Permata,” said the father of three children aged between four and
11.
Ali added that he liked the house and paid a RM20,000 deposit for the
house which was being sold at RM122,570.
He added that the house was supposed to be completed in 1999.
“It has been 10 years now and the project has not been revived.
“My salary is being deducted every month and I don’t even have a choice
not to pay my loan,” said Ali who earns about RM3,000 a month.
Ali, who is also the Taman Mengkibol House Buyers Action Committee
chairman, said 351 buyers were affected by the abandoned project.
He said that the entire project included single- and double-storey houses.
Another buyer, Tow Man Chong, 38, hoped the project would be revived soon
as they had been seeking help from the Housing and Local Government
Ministry for many years.
He said the current condition of houses were bad as they had been
vandalised.
Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha who attended a
dialogue session with the buyers said that he would look into the matter.
He told them that their case was complicated as it involved several
parties.
Kong also told the buyers that the Government would revive 40% of the
abandoned housing projects in the country within this year.
“Out of about 16,800 housing projects in the country, 148 are abandoned
and we are confident in reviving 40% of the projects,” he said. |
