


As reported in The Star
Finally, after 40 years
By DERRICK VINESH
AFTER nearly a 40-year wait, the 236 families living in the slum of Rumah Hijau in Mak Mandin, Penang, can finally move into new three-room low-cost flats located 3km away from their longhouses.
Penang Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Wong Hon Wai said about 170 families had accepted the 650 sq ft units in Ampang Jajar, Butterworth, adding that he hoped the remaining families would follow suit.
236 families living in the slum of Rumah Hijau in Mak Mandin in Penang finally after 40 years.
“We will meet with the remaining families to convince them to accept the flat units which have been built for them.
“Hopefully, upon seeing their neighbours enjoying a better quality of life, they will move here as well,” he said after presenting keys to the units to families who had accepted the offer at the flats’ community hall yesterday.
Wong said the project’s developer, Silver Channel Sdn Bhd, obtained the certificate of fitness for the 20-storey block comprising 304 flats on Oct 28, while balloting for the units was done on Sept 15.
New homes: Rumah Hijau residents registering to collect their low-cost flat keys at Ampang Jajar in Butterworth, Penang yesterday.
Under an agreement with the developer, he said, all temporary occupational licence holders (TOL) from Rumah Hijau would get a free unit which costs RM42,000.
“The non-TOL holders are being offered cash compensation of RM25,000 per family.
“They have an option to take up units in this flat block by paying the difference of RM17,000,” Wong said.
He said tenants who lived in Rumah Hijau for more than five years would receive a compensation of RM5,000, while those who stayed there between a year and three years would receive RM3,000.
Tenants, who lived under a year, would not be entitled to any compensation, he added.
Wong said those who accepted the flat units had been asked to voluntarily demolish their present houses and vacate by Dec 31.
“We have to give them a deadline to move out otherwise they would take their own time to do so,” he said.
Resident Fatimah Mohamad, 53, said she was happy to relocate to the flat, noting that her wooden longhouse unit in Rumah Hijau, where she had lived for 40 years, was no longer habitable.
“The toilet in my termite-ridden house is broken; there is no proper sewage system and the area is infested with rats, flies and other pests,” she said.
Fatimah, a divorcee with five children aged between 14 and 33 including a daughter who is deaf, however, said she could not afford the deposit for water and electricity to be installed in her flat.
“I hope the developer will graciously give us a small amount for relocation expenses as we are finding it hard to raise the amount by Dec 31,” she added.
Fellow resident M. Munusamy, 49, an ex-lorry driver, said he too did not have the money to move within such a short period, adding that he hoped the state would extend the deadline.
Another resident, Chong Hsiao Nam, 79, said he was thankful to the state government for expediting negotiations with the developer, noting that the residents there had waited a long time to move into better abodes.
In April last year, Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy said that the residents gave up their original squatter houses in 1972 and moved into the longhouses in Rumah Hijau to enable the Penang Development Corporation to develop the Mak Mandin Industrial Area project.
Initially, the residents were supposed to stay in the longhouses temporarily for about three to five years, Ramasamy said, but it had been almost 40 years since they moved out.
Rumah Hijau is a slum-within-a-town. It is not accessible by cars and the houses are often hit by flash floods as well as drainage backflow.
青屋區66戶拒州政府獻議‧接受“屋賠屋”居民獲鎖匙
2009-11-25 11:57
As reported in Sinchew.
(檳城‧北海)檳州房屋、城市及鄉村規劃委員會主席黃漢偉表示,北海麥曼珍青屋區的72%家庭,即170戶經接受州政府以一屋賠一屋或2萬5000令吉的賠償方案。
他說,北海麥曼珍青屋區共有236戶家庭受到迫遷的影響,所以目前僅剩下66戶居民尚不接受州政府獻議的賠償。
他表示州政府賠償方案的門戶隨時開放,所以那些尚未接受賠償的家庭如果改變初衷的話,可致電威北縣署官員里查04-5759963。
黃漢偉是週二(11月24日)早上代表州政府移交安邦惹惹組屋鎖匙予全部接受以“一屋賠一屋”的青屋區居民之儀式上致詞時這麼說。出席者尚包括峇眼達南區州議員丹納及首長國會選區助理陳楷棕等人。
接受賠償居民須12月31前搬空
他說,拿到鎖匙的居民從即日(11月24日)開始,隨時都可以遷入居住,不過相信居民們都會等到申請到水電後才後陸續遷入新居。
他指出,州政府也限定接受賠償的居民,必須在12月31日前搬空青屋區的房屋及將房子拆除。
他說,在超過三分之二居民接受州政府的賠償方案後,經證明這是一個人民都能接受的賠償方案,不過州政府還是會繼續接見剩下的66戶居民,以瞭解他們不接受賠償方案的理由後,然後才另尋方法逐一解決。
他說,此座20層組屋共有304個單位,每個單位有650平方呎及有3間房,而且它與青屋區的距離尚不到3公里,如以時速50公里行走,只須6分鐘而已。
安邦惹惹組屋10月28獲入伙證
他希望那些尚不願意搬遷的居民,應該會想像到當其中三分之二鄰居及朋友都遷走及將房屋都拆除後的情景堪憐。
他指出,安邦惹惹組屋已在10月28日獲得入伙准證,而州政府則早在9月15日經讓青屋區居民進行抽籤。
他說,此組屋的基本建設和居住環境遠比青屋區完善清潔,希望那些尚在考慮的居民,能重新改變不搬的決定。
沒能力負擔搬遷裝修費
居民盼州政府再撥款
部份北海麥曼珍青屋區居民在領取房屋鎖匙後,突然在現場向首長助理提出額外要求,並希望州政府能夠再撥出一筆款項,充作他們搬遷及裝修屋子的用途!
這些居民說,他們都是貧苦人家,所以沒有能力負擔搬遷費用,希望州政府能考慮協助他們,否則他們可能沒有能力在短時間內遷離青屋區。
他們表示,再加上組屋內的百葉窗口及廁所旁皆尚未裝上鐵支,這可能對小童的生命造成威脅及竊賊輕易潛入屋內,所以希望州政府能撥款為人民建造鐵花或鐵支,來保障小童們的安全。
80歲居民:終於脫離惡劣居住環境
在北海麥曼珍青屋區居住長達40年的居民張紹南(80歲),終於等到政府賠償的組屋,讓他得以脫離青屋區的惡劣居住環境!
他表示在與妻子繳交水電費抵押金後,就會遷入安邦惹惹組屋居住。
他表示其一男一女經成家而住在他處,所以只有他與老妻相依為命。
他表示感激州政府特地安排第一樓的單位給他,以方便他們出入。
星洲日報/大北馬‧2009.11.24