Ten families of a village demolished in Feb 2006 to make way for a costly housing scheme in Penang, are crying foul, charging that the developer had short-changed them by not keeping his promise of providing alternate low-cost housing.

NONE The residents from the demolished Kampung Haji Mahmood in Tanjung Tokong claim that the developer, Palmex Industries Sdn Bhd, did not provide them the promised low-cost units as compensation for the loss of their village homes three years ago.

The village was demolished to make way for the luxurious Fettes Residence undertaken by Palmex.

The affected residents' ad-hoc committee member Ahmad Rosli said the residents were not against the development project.

But he said they felt they had been cheated after finding out that the developer failed to offer them the alternate housing in the 40-unit low cost Taman Seri Tanjung project, which is nearing completion.

Taman Seri Tanjung is being constructed behind the on-going 195-unit Fettes Residence apartment project.

Prior to its demolition in 2006, the village had 49 houses comprising 37 with numbers, 11 without numbers and a structure that was used as the village youth club office.

From the 37 houses with numbers, he said 29 houses had taken up the developer's low-cost house offer in Seri Tanjung while the remaining eight opted for cash compensation.

Left out in the cold

He said those households with numbers were also given a lump sum RM9,000 each as rental compensation till they move in to Seri Tanjung.

NONE Ahmad ( left ) said out of the 11 unnumbered households, one had been offered the low-cost unit.

However, he said the remaining 10 were left in the dark without any offer, contrary to the written agreement made by Palmex in Sep 2006 that stated they would be given priority to buy the three-bedroom low-cost units at cost price.

He suggested that since 30 out the 40 units in Seri Tanjung had been taken up by affected villagers, the remaining 10 units be offered to the remaining residents.

"However, we were not offered the units," Ahmad told a press conference in Tanjung Tokong yesterday.

The residents now plan to seek assistance from the state government and federal government to find a solution to end their predicament.

When contacted, Palmex Industries general manager Ang Hooi Eow said his company cannot be blamed for the villagers' predicament.

He said Palmex had offered the units according to the names registered in the low-cost housing registrar list provided by the state housing department.

Tripartite meeting proposed

Under the housing guidelines, he said a developer cannot offer low-cost units to just anyone.

NONE "We had to adhere to the list provided by the state.

"Therefore the villagers should check with the state housing department to find out the reasons for the omission of their names from the list.

"It's not our fault," Ang told Malaysiakini .

When informed about it, the state executive councillor in charge of housing, Wong Hon Wai said he was unaware about the issue.

However, he said he was prepared to resolve the dispute by meeting the villagers and developer.

"The villagers can always come and meet me to resolve the issue. "My office door is open," he said.