The residents of the Block 5 flats in Taman Permata Dengkil appear to be caught in a bureaucratic tug of war, which may see them spend even more nights in a tent out of fear that their homes may collapse.

NONE Both the state and federal governments are waiting for the other to provide letters of undertaking before it can move, leaving the residents, who have spent 49 nights in a tent, caught in the middle.

According to resident committee member N Kumaran, the residents were informed that the federal government is waiting for a letter of undertaking that the state will provide the specified land before it can proceed to build replacement homes.

However, Malaysiakini 's checks with the state government found that the state is instead waiting for the federal government to give an undertaking that it will indeed build the replacement homes, before the state can provide the land.

NONE “We were told the Housing Department cannot decide on our homes yet as it has not heard back from the state government.

“(The Housing Department) said it wrote to the state government on July 4 to say that the 18 acres of land the state had proposed for the replacement homes were unsuitable, and it is now waiting for the state's response,” Kumaran said.

Speaking to Malaysiakini after an hour-long meeting with Housing Department deputy director (development) Mohamad Yusoff Ghazali, Kumaran, who was accompanied by 60 other residents at the meeting in Putrajaya, said they will now bring their case to the state.

Mining land rejected

NONE However, Selangor executive councillor overseeing the matter V Ganabatirao ( right ) said that state secretariat had actually replied to the July 4 letter by the Housing Department.

“The federal administration said the 18 acres were unsuitable as it was mining land.

“The state secretariat then replied to say that we are prepared to provide any land that is deemed suitable, if the federal administration can give an undertaking that it will build the (replacement) homes to specification for these people.

“We are even prepared to purchase the land if need be, but we do not want (the federal administration) to profit from the land,” he said.

He added that the federal administration has not explicitly guaranteed that it will build the homes for the residents free-of-charge, including in letters to former Selangor exco member Xavier Jeyakumar.

He also refuted suggestions that the residents are now trapped between two governments, saying that the state is already doing all it can.

“This problem is not our doing, but we are committed to solving it, including providing land, out of goodwill,” he said.

Payment suspended with no CF

The residents have been staying in a tent since June 11, when the flats' structure started cracking and shaking.

NONE All former plantation workers, the residents were moved to the flats to make way for the construction of Putrajaya 14 years ago.

They claim that they were promised single-storey terrace houses but were placed at the flats “temporarily”.

They also claimed to have paid RM20,000 either in cash or via bank loans, which were later suspended as the flats did not receive a certificate of fitness.