About 100 people who bought single-storey semi-detached houses in Ipoh five years ago are still in the dark as to when their houses will be completed.

Today, 14 of them came to Parliament, hoping to meet Housing and Local Government Ministry officials, to resolve their problem.

Led by lawyer Mah Kok Leong, they said the units purchased from developer Gunung Sejahtera Sdn Bhd have been abandoned for about three years now.

Some of the houses are only 60 percent complete, they said.

The house buyers claimed they were sent on a wild goose chase by the developer who failed to tell them when the certificate of fitness for their homes would be issued.

The house buyers claim they have paid between RM118,000 and RM178,000 for the construction of the houses and building of infrastructure such as drainage.

But the work is shoddy, they told reporters at the Parliament lobby, showing photographs of the partially complete houses.

According to the agreement, Mah said, the Perak Land and District office had assigned Gunung Sejahtera as the sole developer. The house buyers were not permitted to select their own contractors.

The lots where the houses were supposed to be built are in Ampang Baru in Mukim Ulu Kinta. The lots were up for sale as early as 1995.

Empty promises

However, early this year Gunung Sejahtera informed the house buyers that another contractor Lingkaran Cemerlang Sdn Bhd was taking over the construction of the houses.

Lingkaran Cemerlang then sent a letter informing the house buyers that their units will be completed by May or June this year.

According to Mah, some of the house buyers sent a letter in October asking the two developers to state the nature of their agreement. But they have yet to received any reply.

When contacted today, a staff at Lingkaran Cemerlang said that about 100 units have been completed and CFs will be issued by the Ipoh Municipal Council within a month.

One of the house buyers, KK Lim, was not optimistic. "We are tired of these empty promises.

"We have loans to pay back and we feel disappointed for having to go through these problems," the senior manager with a local electronics company said.

Not under ministry

Commenting on the issue in Parliament early this month, Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui said house-buyer problems were not under his Ministry's jurisdiction as the project was under a co-operative.

He was responding to a question by Fong Po Kuan (DAP - Batu Gajah) who asked the minister to intervene as several letters have been sent to his office regarding the plight of the house buyers.

Fong had said that she will continue to correspond with the minister's office until the matter was resolved.

To this, Chin said he will throw away the letters if they keep coming in. His reply was recorded in the House's Hansard for Nov 7.

"It appears that the authorities, the Land Office, and the developer have conspired to cheat and confuse the public. These parties are now trying to wash their hands clean off the problem," said Fong, at a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

"The terms of the agreement between the developer and house buyers are also unfair. They are not permitted to choose their own contractors. They purchased the land from the Ipoh Land office and were then forced by the office to stick to the contractor,"she added.

The 14 house buyers had sought Fong's assistance after they failed to get any respond from the two developers.