11/03/2009 The Star By YIP YOKE TENG

THE plight of Azman Shah Mohamad gives an insight on the price a resident in Petaling Jaya has to pay in the name of progress.

The first property he bought in Petaling Jaya became an abandoned project and the second he bought faced a water crisis recently.

»I had to rent a unit throughout the five years«AZMAN SHAH MOHAMAD

The 39-year-old businessman related his predicament on Thursday at Menara Star in Petaling Jaya after reading StarMetro’s report “Kayu Ara needs an urgent facelift” published on March 3.

He is one of the buyers of Vista Damansara, the abandoned medium-cost apartments, who refused to accept the refund of full retail price offered by the developer.

Less than half of the buyers turned down the offer as they deemed it unfair because it did not take into account the legal fees paid by them, delay in delivery and appreciation of property value during the five years the project was stalled.

He said he was left in the lurch when the project was stalled.

“I had to rent a unit throughout the five years. The worst part was having to pay a huge amount to clear my name from the blacklist in order to buy another property,” he added.

But that was not the end to his misery. He was dealt a double blow when water supply to Flora Damansara Condominium was cut off by Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) as arrears had accumulated to almost RM400,000.

Water supply was reconnected later but the problem is left unresolved. Meetings involving the relevant parties are being arranged to settle the matter.

The developer of the abandoned project could not be reached for comments.