A question has arisen on who is responsible for maintaining a slope behind Sutramas apartments in Bandar Puchong Jaya. Although the slope as a whole belongs to state company Permodalan Selangor Bhd (PNSB), PNSB contends that the foot of the slope has to be maintained by the residents as it has becomes their “common property”.
“The foot was cut or modified by the developers to make way for your houses during construction,” said PNSB project manager Yunos Iskandar, during a dialogue with the residents.
He explained that the fencing around the property is not an accurate measure of the common property “Your land is not within the fence, but it’s actually further. Now you have gotten CF or strata title, so this has becomes your common property, not our land anymore,”
“Hence, PNSB cannot allocate budget to build any anti-landslide facilities (on the land),” he added.
The announcement by PNSB will likely affect apartments bordering the slope such as Sri Penanga, DePalma, Bayan Hill, Sri Kesidang and Sutramas. The barely protected slope could collapse especially during the current raining season.
Residents’ association chairman of Sri Penaga William Chang asked Kinara assemblyperson Teresa Kok, Puchong parliamentarian Gobind Singh Deo and MPSJ councillor Tan Jo Hann who attended the meeting to help them tackle the issue.
“We have been misled by the developers all this while. We are not specialists, how are we going to protect the slope?”
“There are so many units in an apartment, what is the cut line of every unit (on the common property)?”
“We are just living in apartments. We are not rich fellows,” Chang said.
Teresa and Gobind agreed to look into the problem. “The culprit would be the government who approved the contentious border back then,” Teresa said.
Tan Jo Hann said he will get the stakeholders to discuss the issue.
“MPSJ, PNSB and the apartment developers are the three key players. We should organize a meeting with them to brainstorm measures of protecting the slope,”
“What I worry is if a landslide happen tomorrow, who is going to held responsible for that?”
(From left) Yunos, Teresa, Gobind and Tan.
Slope development on hold
Attempts to develop the slope have been put on hold following the rejection of development proposals. Developers Permatang Kumbang have now appealed to the Selangor Appeals Board.
“It is their constitutional right to do so. The case is now fixed for mention on July 28. I will appear on behalf of the residents to explain to court why we rejected it,” said Gobind
“There are some legal process involved, but let me assure you that the state government is always with you. Teresa and I have made it clear that we are against slope development and that decision is consistent,”
On the other hand, Teresa reiterated that the slope is not part of Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve.
“It was never a part of the forest. So there is no issue of gazette or de-gazette of the slope as claimed by certain quarters,”
CJMY
