State govt takes steps to ensure housing developers deliver

The Selangor government has allocated RM20mil to the Abandoned Projects Recovery Fund (TEPAT) said Selangor Mentri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali.

“We are collaborating with the local authorities to restore abandoned housing developments through the TEPAT fund, with approval for four projects this year, totalling 956 low-cost housing units under the initiative.

“Since 2008, there have been 122 abandoned projects, involving 32,000 units from 113 projects, and nine village expansion projects.

“We are tightening the housing developer’s licence issuance procedures so that developers are really able to complete their projects on time,” Azmin said during an event to hand over Certificates of Fitness for Occupation (CFO) to 440 Lestari Perdana, Sri Indah (Phase 1) flat owners.

After a decade-long wait, the flat owners received their CFOs, allowing them to move into the property they purchased.

Flat owner Sarappatti Ramanaidu, 74, said the developers provided him with three temporary CFOs previously but there were no guarantees of safety.

“The developers were not given the full CFO when they failed to pay RM400,000 contribution for the Puchong-Serdang Highway Interchange, and to repair the damaged sewerage system.

“But that is not fair to us buyers, having to wait simply because of problems not related to us, so I started a petition with 20 signatures and wrote to the relevant departments in the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) before anything was done,” he said.

According to MPSJ president Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan, the five-storey, 11-block project was completed in 2003.

“The council has worked closely with the Selangor Housing and Property Board (LPHS) to facilitate the developer’s compliance with the conditions established by the relevant technical departments.

“Their delay resulted in buyers having to bear the financial burden of paying monthly instalments on their loans, in addition to housing rental, to fulfil the dream of owning their own home,” he said.

Nor Hisham added that about 99% of developers within MPSJ’s jurisdiction managed to complete housing projects and hand it over on time.

However, in 2009, MPSJ set up its Problematic and Abandoned Buildings Supervision Unit, identifying 20 projects, one of which involved the Sri Indah Lestari Perdana flats.

The most recent status of these 20 projects include 11 projects consisting of 14 factory units and 5,121 housing units that have been completed and issued with CFOs; while five projects involving 46 shop houses and 4,205 housing units have resumed construction.

Additionally, three projects comprising one school and 769 housing units are in the process of resuming construction, as well as one abandoned project that has been stalled as it is still undergoing court proceedings. - By The Star