Monday, March 23, 2009

Objection signatures and memo submitted to MBPJ

By TAN KARR WEI


RESIDENTS of Bandar Sri Damansara are firm on their stand to oppose any development on Meranti Hill along Persiaran Meranti.

About 200 residents staged a peaceful protest at the parking area of the Paradesa Rustica condominiums last Sunday, under the scorching afternoon sun.

“We saw what happened at Bukit Antarabangsa (referring to the Dec 6 landslide which killed five people) and we don’t want the same thing to happen here,” Paradesa Tropica joint management committee adviser Andrew Tan said.

During a public hearing at the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) headquarters last week, the residents found out that in addition to the 12 highrise blocks of 35 to 36 storeys, similar to those in the previous proposal, the developer had included a 0.79ha commercial lot in the plans.

“We are stressing again that Persiaran Meranti is a narrow road that can’t cope with the additional 7,000 cars projected from the development,” Tan said.

He said there was already soil erosion at several places around the hill and the Rustica condominium car park would be flooded whenever it rained heavily.

According to Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah, under the Petaling Jaya Local Draft Plan 2 (RTPJ2), many development projects are being proposed for PJ.

“There are attempts to turn PJ into a city like KL but we don’t have the necessary road infrastructure and transport facilities to support the heavy traffic,” he said.

The residents also handed over a memorandum together with about 1,500 objection signatures to MBPJ councillor Chan Chee Kong, highlighting their concerns over the project.

Chan said that this was the third proposal that the MBPJ had received for the development and the council would look into the application after hearing the objections.

When contacted, a spokesman for the developer said they had followed all procedures and were only building on class 1 and 2 slopes.

“We will make sure that all the safety and engineering practices are carried out and had also given an undertaking during one of the objection hearings to compensate residents if anything happens during construction,” he said.

He added that the developer had heard residents’ grouses regarding density and had reduced the number of blocks from the initial 15 to 12.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

JMB and your voice...

JMB and Your Voice!
In the past two weeks, I have had to attend to problems between the JMC and the other owners, including even between JMC Chairman and committee members.
There are many instances where the Chairmanship has caused the “craze” of authority to climb to the head of the Chairperson. They seem to be like dictators, managing the committee and the property like the other owners are school kids.
There are instances where the Chairman decides to over-rule whatever decision that has been made at committee meetings, changing contents of the minutes as well as “punishing” committee members and owners for questioning him / her.
All these cannot be allowed to happen – owners must stand-up to these kind of dictatorial and irresponsible management styles. In a few instances, the other committee members choose to resign – which is the wrong thing to do. If they see something wrong, the other committee members should not resign, but instead they should stand-up and put their feet down.
They must be willing to raise the matter with the COB and more importantly, the COB ,must investigate and where necessary, to take action. COB cannot just ignore the matter and pretend it is not there and wait for it to go away!
I have seen instances where both husband and wife are involved in the committee – how can the COB even allow such things to happen. There have been instances where the husband is the chairman and the wife the treasurer and both are signatories to the account. On the other instance, the wife is the Chairman while the husband is the “managing agent” – whose appointment is also questionable. Even if the appointment is properly done – surely the COB must advise them against such a situation. Is there no one else to run the place?
What is more disappointing for me is the fact that committee members and owners are aware of such “compromising situations” and they choose to do nothing. Some even claim that they do not know what their rights are. Surely simple common sense would also tell you that such situations are not right.
Apartment and Condo living is a part and parcel of Malaysian Community. JMB issues are real and will not go away. If we choose to keep quiet and wait for the authority to do something, than I am sorry to say, we deserve whatever problems that come our way.
So please my dear friends, my appeal to you – STAND UP and PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS! Seek answers and solutions instead of just folding your arms and say; “Aiyah, its like that la – what to do!!!!” Lets Change It!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Govt must tackle high-rise poser

HIGH-RISE tenants are likely to face problems with water supply in the near future.
The Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007 spells out that a joint management body (JMB) will be liable for all jointly owned properties including the pump house, water tanks and piping in the building. The problems start when consumers are not fully aware of this act and its function. In near future, it will be compulsory for high-rise tenants to have individual meters and pay directly to water companies.

However, these consumers still need to spend extra to maintain the rest of the jointly-owned water supply properties. This situation is different from landed properties as the responsibility of the water supply company lies up to the individual meters or to certain distance from the main pipe.

Now, the question is whether the JMB which comprises residents has enough funds to operate such jointly-owned properties. Secondly, how will the tariff be decided? This is because compared to landed property owners, high-rise residents receive fewer services while bearing the cost of common properties for water supply.

It is dangerous to leave the issue as it is. If the JMB fail to collect enough management fees, it may end up unable to maintain the properties well. And in many states, there are no JMBs for high-rise buildings.

The Housing and Local Government Ministry must coordinate with the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry to solve this problem. There should be a mechanism to manage these properties and not left to the consumers because they bought a high-rise property.

Piarapakaran Subramaniam
Fomca Environment Desk

Monday, March 2, 2009

JMB Training Programme

Bengkel 663 Taklimat
Bengkel Akta 663 ini bertujuan untuk memberikan peserta-peserta panduan praktikal mengenai perundangan serta tugas dan tanggungjawab ahli-ahli dan ahli jawatankuasa Badan Pengurusan
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Bengkel dan taklimat ini dijadualkan untuk selama 3jam dan melibatkan taklimat serta bengkel penyertaan peserta dan sessi soal-jawab.
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Untuk memastikan penyertaan sepenuhnya oleh semua peserta, maka setiap sessi Bengkel – Taklimat dihadkan kepada 20 orang peserta (maksima)
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Kos penyertaan hanya
RM50
seorang peserta (termasuk sijil penyertaan)

Untuk pertanyaan lanjut sila hubungi Tengku Naza: 012 284 9146, Peter 012 905 9948