Stairways to exhaustion
The Star 15/12/2006

IMAGINE climbing up stairs to reach your home on the 16th floor. Well, that’s exactly what Chew Keok Ghee, 58, has been doing for the past six weeks.

The resident of Block 25 of Taman Sri Damai flats in Batu Lancang, Penang, is frustrated with the breakdown of the two lifts.

“I’m too exhausted to climb up after coming down from my unit in the morning.

“I usually hang around the flats compound until I have finished lunch before walking up again,” he said.

Former security guard Mohd Yunus Talib, 62, who lives on the eighth floor, is among those severely affec-ted.

Mohd Yunus, who is half paralysed, needs to undergo physiotherapy once a fortnight at the Penang Hospital. His wife Rohani Abdul Rah-man, 51, said she had to plead with the management corporation to operate the lift manually so that that her husband could be taken to the hospital.

A check with the management corporation showed that the lift could still be ope-rated manually.

“We operate the lift ma-nually only during an emergency,” said an official.

Resident R. Raja, 55, said the breakdown of the lifts was posing a big problem to senior citizens.

“I live on the 12th floor. Since I make six trips daily, my knees are aching,” he said.

He added that residents have to carry cooking gas cylinders to their units as the suppliers refused to deliver it to their doorsteps.

Another resident Idris Zai-nal Abidin, 55, said residents of Blocks 21 and 23 were also experiencing the same problem since three weeks ago.

A management corporation spokesman said it was wor-king closely with the newly engaged property management company to resolve the problem.

“We have just taken over the management from IJM Corp Bhd about a month ago.

“We are looking for a contractor to maintain the lifts as the previous one appointed by IJM does not want to continue providing the service,” he said.

He said IJM Corp should honour its promise to install a new lift.

He urged residents to pay more than RM700,000 in maintenance fees owed to IJM Corp by those in Block 25 as well as those from Blocks 21 and 23.