LIPIS: When Rosly Salleh received the keys to his new unit at Felda's New Generation Housing Project in Sungai Koyan in May last year, the 64-year-old was eager to move into the three-room units.
However, there were some setbacks and the father-of-eight was told to wait for two months before the developer installs water, and electricity supply for the 24 units in the settlement.
Six months down the road, the developer had only installed water supply while the premises were still without electricity and the buyers could not move into the units.
Rosly said the buyers were still clueless on the status of their homes as some claim the homes were without certificates of fitness (CF) and were not suitable to be occupied.
"The units were completed several years ago and we have also received the keys. Some units have water supply but none have electricity....I am not sure when the problems will be solved.
"Since no one has moved in, the houses are badly damaged with the window farmes missing, drain covers stolen and some units might also be used for drug activities," he said when met during Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali;s visit to the abandoned project here today.
He said all the units were already sold out and each of them paid RM300 during the process of drawing to determine their housing lots.
Rosly said when he bought the units, the state government informed him that it was priced at RM120,000 eacb before later reduced to RM90,000 after Felda offered discounts.
Meanwhile, Mohd Aznal Mad Arif, 51, said the housing problem should have been solved a long tiem ago if the state government and Felda had sat together to iron out matters.
"It has been left abandoned for too long and each time we pass by the road we feel sad to see the empty units. A few buyers have moved in and one of them is using generator for electricity supply.
"When we received the house keys, everyone was excited...no one expected us to end up in such mess. We hope to get some good news soon and move in here within the next few months," he said.
Meanwhile, Azmin told reporters that a report concerning problems faced by Felda settlers will be tabled in Parliament during the next sitting in March.
"All Felda related issues including new generation Felda homes will be also solved. Pakatan Harapan(PH) will not abolish the Felda settlers' debts but we will look into the type of debts which they are facing.
"We are using the principles of Islam and when there is debts, it has to be paid based on the agreement made between the borrower and lender," he said.
Speaking on the pledge to offer a 50 per cent discount to Felda setllers to help them clear their debts, he said the government was prepared to abolish debts that were seen as unsuitable(hutang tidak wajar).
"The government will only abolish certain debts...for example, if the settler went into debts when they purchased imported fertiliser and now they should use local fertiliser," he saiid.