200 buyers hold Raya protest ‘open house’ at abandoned project

© Provided by Free Malaysia Today Some of the house buyers sitting on the floor of one of the abandoned houses. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: Some 200 buyers of a now-abandoned housing estate in Kuching held a Hari Raya open house at their half-completed homes to protest against the developers’ unfulfilled promises.

The keys to their homes at Sentoria Borneo Samariang Garden were supposed to be handed over to them by this year, following a year’s extension.

The project began construction in 2018 and was supposed to have over 1,000 homes in five phases.

A spokesman for the house buyers Rahman Abdul Hamid, 33, said they last received a letter from their developer in September and had not heard from them since.

He said in the letter, the developer promised to finish their homes within a year after restarting work in the fourth quarter of last year.

“We are now lost, despite all attempts, including meeting with the developer and authorities on Oct 3. The authorities ordered the developer to settle the issue within three months. But, until now, there is no solution,” he was quoted as saying by Berita Harian.

Rahman said most buyers were civil servants paying instalments of between RM1,000 and RM2,000 which were debited from their monthly salaries since 2019.

In an immediate response, Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg said the state government would take over the project once the legal issues had been sorted out as the developer was a listed company.

“I don’t think they (developers) will be able to continue with the housing project,” he said at the sidelines of a Hari Raya event in Kuching.