JOHOR BARU – Buyers of units at the Taman Mount Austin Flats have appealed to the Johor government to intervene and resolve the problems associated with the housing project that has been abandoned for the past 19 years.
Taman Mount Austin Suhaini Flats residents’ association chairman Mat Isa said the private housing project was sold at RM50,000 per unit in 2003 and involved 10 blocks with a total of 911 units, but six blocks, or 510 units have yet to be completed till now.
He said they have had many meetings with the developer, but the developer failed to provide any clear reasons and merely promised to complete the project.
“The project has been abandoned for 19 years, the unfinished blocks are Blocks 1, 2, and 4, while the developer claims that it does not want to build Blocks 3, 5, and 7.
“They provide the excuse that there are no buyers for those blocks, but buyers do exist, and some have even passed away,” he said at a media conference at the flats here today.
Suhaini said the developer had promised to complete the project in stages during a meeting in 2019 between elected representatives, the developer, and government agencies, but there has been no action since then.
Residents in the four completed blocks also face various issues, including maintenance and unpaid electricity and water bills by the developer. In addition, the residents’ association received a notice of an unpaid water bill of RM13,000 and an electricity bill of RM90,000.
“We do not know how the unpaid bills were incurred, as every unit has its respective water and electricity bill that we pay on our own. I have issued a letter to the relevant parties to not burden consumers as we have paid… Should they want to demand payment, demand it from the developer,” he added.
Meanwhile, Puteri Wangsa assemblyman Amira Aisya Abd Aziz, who has also held discussions with the buyers, said that the developer was irresponsible and urged that the issue be taken seriously.
She also urged that the state government intervene and review the housing project and blacklist the developer, adding that she would bring up the matter with state Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor. – Bernama, September 2, 2022
