Developer yet to receive show-cause letter

The Selangor government has yet to send a show-cause letter to Peter Brickworks asking why it is delaying building low-cost flats for longhouse residents.

PETALING JAYA: It looks like Peter Brickworks Sdn Bhd is not keen on keeping its promise of building low-cost flats for the longhouse residents in PJS 1.
The Selangor government has drafted a show-cause letter to the developers asking why it had delayed building the flats for the residents.

“However, the letter has yet to be delivered to the developer,” Selangor state secretary Khusrin Munawi said.

Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim had instructed Khusrin to acquire three plots of land belonging to Peter Brickworks after the latter demolished two longhouses belonging to V Mahalingam and A Pushparani using a court order on June 3.

This came despite the developer’s assurance to the state government, a week earlier, that it would not demolish the houses before reaching an amicable solution with the residents.

On how soon the state could acquire the land after issuing the show-cause letter, Khusrin said the process may take some time.

He added that the show-cause letter itself would grant the developer 21 days to explain on why it had delayed building the flats for the residents.

“If the developer does not provide a satisfactory reply, then we will pursue with the land acquisition,” said Khusrin.

The 27 families residing in the area were moved from Kampung Pinang, Kampung Petaling Tin and Kampung Muniandy by Peter Brickworks, promising to build low-cost flats for them in 2003.

However, the developer failed to build the flats citing a legal hurdle, as the existing residents on the land slated for the project obtained a permanent injunction against the project.

After the developer issued eviction notices to Mahalingam and Pushparani on May 23, they demanded that the state government and the developer provide them with alternative housing and free rental until their flats were built.