JOHOR BAHRU: The instruction to vacate several houses in Kampung Dato' Hajah Hasnah Ahmad here only involves old squatter houses which have been abandoned and occupied by foreigners.
State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor said the local residents living in the area have already been offered to move to the Eastern Dispersion Link (EDL) Apartments here.
He said the eviction notice came after a regulatory impact assessment was carried out by a task force formed together with various parties including the police, as well as following engagement sessions with residents.
“Last Monday, 23 units of squatter houses in the village were demolished, but they were abandoned houses and only foreigners were affected,“ he told reporters after visiting an abandoned project at Taman Desa Kempas here yesterday.
He was commenting on claims that about 100 families in the village were at a loss after they were directed by the land office to vacate their houses soon to make way for development projects.
On the residents' claims that the EDL Apartments offered have various problems including not issued with a certificate of fitness (CF) for occupation, Mohd Jafni refuted the allegations as the apartment has been issued a certificate of completion and compliance (CCC).
“It is incorrect to say there is no CF, over 2,000 apartment units already have the CCC and there are no technical problems. The government has allocated RM24 million to solve problems of drainage, sewer stench at the apartments,“ he said.
Meanwhile, a resident representative Rahmad Dahman, 70, said they received the notice to move on March 15 and had 60 days to vacate the government land.
“We have built and occupied this village since the 70’s and about 10 years ago we were offered to move. We were given a letter allowing us temporary occupation in this village and we later applied to remain permanent here in 2015 but there had been no response until now, “ he said. -Bernama
