A decade later, still no keys to houses

Homeowners in Taman Alam Perdana, Ijok, claim they have been deceived by the Selangor Menteri Besar, who took over the housing project in 2011

PETALING JAYA: At a glance, Taman Alam Perdana, Ijok, appears to be just another low-cost housing area in the city, constructed to meet the growing demands of those unable to afford typical Klang Valley homes.

Blocks of medium-density flats loom over rows of single-story houses and in the middle is a small playground for parents to let loose their children while they swap neighbourhood gossip.

But give it another glance, and one notices how deserted the roads are, how the playground facilities are unnaturally pristine, how not a squeak emanates from the flats nor the houses.

Much like a ghost town, the majority of Taman Alam Perdana, which boasts 1,116 houses and 2,500 units in 25 blocks of flats, have remained unoccupied since construction began in 2002.

Over a decade later, despite construction being complete, 733 terrace homeowners have allegedly neither received their keys nor a Certificate of Fitness (CF).

“The Selangor Menteri Besar and state government has deceived us,” frustrated homeowner Isaac Nathan told FMT in a recent interview.

“Abdul Khalid Ibrahim swooped in like a white knight to take over the terrace houses development project in 2011 from private firm LBCN Development Sdn Bhd, when in fact 98% of the project was already complete.

“Now, he is claiming he spent millions of ringgit to rejuvenate the project. How could he have spent so much on an almost-complete project? And why, two years after the state took over, are we still not given the keys?” he asked.

According to a 2011 letter from state firm Permodalan Selangor Negeri Berhad (PSNB), the state government had seized the land consisting of the terrace houses from LBCN to revive the abandoned project and “protect the interests of the homeowners”.

But instead of speeding up the development, homeowners found their problems exacerbated as they were unable to view the ongoing construction, pressed for more payment from PSNB, and found themselves in a legal bind with the bank and the former developer.

They were also confused as to why the state government had not consulted them before appointing PSNB to oversee the project.

Meanwhile, the flats development project was taken over by federal government-owned firm SPNB (Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad).

Unlike the terrace homeowners, under SPNB’s management, the flat owners received the CF and their keys – coincidentally handed to them by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak days before Election 2013 – but were now awaiting for their water and electricity supply to be reconnected.

A SPNB spokesman had told the media last week the flat units should have electricity supply by Sept 2, while Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) had started to install the water meters on Aug 28.

The future of the terrace house owners, however, remains murky.

Letters from the Selangor Housing and Land Board states it will only provide the house keys to the owners once the CF for the houses are issued.

According to a July 19 letter, as long as Indah Water Konsortium withholds its letter of support over the public sanitation system for the terrace houses, the CF would remain suspended.

So far IWK had only provided letters of support for the flats, which it issued on Nov 12, 2012.

But Nathan argued that the flats and the terrace houses used the same sanitation system, so it did not make sense that the flats could obtain CF, while the terrace houses could not.

“They are all crooks in this matter – the Menteri Besar, the state government, PSNB, SPNB. The Menteri Besar just wanted to take the opportunity to seize the land, and now he has left us high and dry.

“He announced last year he would give us our keys on April 28, 2012. But where are the keys? It was all a bluff,” said Nathan.