KUCHING, Dec 16: The Sarawak government through the Ministry of Local Government and Housing (MLGH) has expressed its concern over the problems faced by the affected house buyers under the Borneo Samariang Resort City Project in Petra Jaya.
According to the MLGH in a statement issued today, the private housing development, undertaken by Sentoria Borneo Land Sdn Bhd under the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Ordinance 2013 in 2016, is a mixed development project.
“It consists of a few major components, namely a water theme park, international convention centre, serviced apartments meant for tourists, and several blocks of normal housing and Rumah Spektra Medium (RSM) which is to be developed on Blocks 4 and 5.
“Currently, normal housing constructed in Blocks 24, 25, and 26 have been successfully delivered to the respective house purchasers,” said the statement.
It added that when the difficulties faced by the house purchasers of RSM was brought to the attention of the State government, MLGH has made the effort to facilitate the dialogue between the developers and house buyers to ensure the progress and completion of the houses proceed according to the plan, although it will be delayed.
The current achievements of the committee are to request the facilitation of the Governor of Bank Negara to review the decision of OCBC Bank in freezing the Housing Development Account (HDA), which was established to ensure all monies paid by the house buyers are kept safely and used to build and complete the houses.
“Under the revised planning, the whole scheme of the housing project will be divided into two main phases. RSM 1 and RSM 2 have been categorised as one new phasing and separate blocks by the Land and Survey Department (LSD).
“With this approval from LSD, the ministry has issued separate HDL for RSM 1. This is to enable new HDA to be opened and enable the developer to request respective house financing bank to pay the progress payment as agreed in the Contract of Sale.”
It also urged the developer to leverage on social media to engage with the affected house buyers to update on the status and progress of the housing development to the house purchasers.
“Notwithstanding the above proposed online engagement, MLGH has organised several engagements with the house buyers’ representatives to update them on the project status.”
In relation to the grievances of house buyers who have received their houses, the statement said that the Tribunal for Housing Purchaser’s Claims Sarawak has heard and is in the process of hearing the claims made by the house purchasers.
“The Tribunal had given the necessary award to the house purchasers and developer.
“For the non-compliance of award handed down by the Tribunal for Housing Purchaser’s Claims Sarawak, the Tribunal has opened investigation papers for prosecution purpose to the Magistrate Court.” — DayakDaily
