730 anxious housebuyers ask Pak Lah for help

12/04/2004 The Malay Mail

PENANG: More than 730 house buyers of the abandoned Sri Bayu residential scheme have sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi through the Scheme's Buyers Action Committee.

The buyers appealed to Abdullah to help resolve their 10-year-old housing woes.

The committee's chairman, Mat Pozian Rashid, said the buyers would personally send the memorandum to the PM soon.

It is our final move to help the buyers who have to bear the burden of paying the installment for their unoccupied houses as well as to rent a place to live in," he said.

Pozian also said they had sent a letter to the PM in January to highlight their plight.

He was speaking to reporters at the Sri Bayu housing scheme project buyer's meeting in Kampung Seronok where the buyers met the Housing State Executive Councillor Syed Ameruddin Syed Ahmed.

The project, comprising 234 low-cost flats worth RM25, 000 each and 496 low-medium -cost flats worth RM49,000 each, started in 1994.

The development has changed hands from one contractor to another a few times.

The buyers signed the sales purchase agreement with developers Duniaga Sdn Bhd, Jawatankuasa Pemandu Sdn Bhd (JKPSB) and Perbadanan Pembangunan Bandar (UDA) in November 1994.
The agreement stated that the project would be completed in 36 months.

Mohd Hanif Hamid, a buyer, said he has been waiting for the project to be ready for the past 10 years, He urged the Government to help them.

"I hope the leaders understand our plight and expedite the development of the flats as we have been faithfully paying our installments," he said.

Syed Ameruddin said he had obtained the report on the abandoned project from the JKPSB and will send it to the State legal adviser for further action.