A group of house buyers are seeing red, and understandably so, since they have been waiting for 18 years for the keys to their homes.

This morning, the group took their grouses to the Housing and Local Government Ministry. They were shocked to learn that their low-cost houses in Taman Sri Raya, Cheras, is the 'longest abandoned housing project.'

The group, numbering around 30 people, held a demonstration outside the ministry's office in Kuala Lumpur urging Minister Ong Ka Ting to act against the developer Kausar Corporation and Selangor state government.

Taman Sri Raya action committee representative D Sivan, with 11 other house owners, handed a a memorandum to the ministry's deputy director-general KG Param.

Param told the group that he was alarmed by the number of years that the buyers had to wait for their low-cost houses.

"We will start investigations immediately after Hari Raya. We have to go through our files and theirs and see why the developer hasn't began construction and yet collected money from the people," he told malaysiakini.

Param ( right ) said he was also surprised that the Selangor state government was a party to the sale and purchase agreement signed on June 28, 1989.

He also assured the house buyers that they would try to arrange for a meeting with the stake holders after their investigation.

No explanation given

Thirty families who signed the agreement with the developer and the state government had paid out 10 percent from the cost of the yet-to-be-built houses priced at RM25,000 each.

"Some families have completed payment and have yet to see anything built on the piece of land," lamented Sivan ( photo ).

"Throughout the 18 years, many have suffered when repaying their bank and government loans. Some families had to move around a lot and their children had to change schools," he explained.

He added that only the low-cost houses were not built in the project that included bungalows and flats.

Pictures of the plot of land meant for the construction and overgrown bushes and trees with no building materials in sight were also shown to the press.

One of the buyers, pensioner V Tharmalinggam, 60, said the developer never gave the house buyers an explanation for the abandoned project.

"Every time we call to speak to the director or the person in charge, the receptionist says the bosses are in a meeting. They have been in meetings everyday for the past 18 years," he said.

The house buyers are calling for a meeting with the developer and the Selangor state government to resolve this issue or for the ministry to take over the case.

They are also asking for the low-cost houses to be completed within two years and compensation be paid for their suffering over the past 18 years.

Kausar's managing director Baharin Ayub could not be contacted for comments as he is said to be outstation.