Developer
liquidated, 300 land buyers in the lurch
08/10/2009 NST
GEORGE TOWN: About 300 land buyers of the Padang Meha Parkland in Kulim,
Kedah, are in a quandary as they have not received the titles to their
properties despite waiting for almost 15 years.
They bought the plots in 1996 and 1997, and paid a total of about RM200
million for 323.7ha.
They now do not know whether the development, which featured various
facilities, including a private college, would ever take off.
This is because the original developer, Alamanda Development Sdn Bhd, went
into liquidation in 2005.
Padang Meha Purchasers Action Group chairman S.K. Tan said the land buyers
wanted the new developer, Vintage Developers Sdn Bhd, to give them
assurances that their land would not be converted for other purposes and
that individual land titles be given to them as soon as possible.
He said in 1996, Alamanda was selling country home plots and orchard
homesteads during the project's initial launch, with land priced about
RM10 per sq ft for the former and RM8 per sq ft for the latter.
He said the project took off in full steam when it began in 1996 and
Alamanda collected progress payments from the buyers.
"They finished 95 per cent by the end of 1997 -- a year ahead of schedule.
"But today, 13 years later, the remaining five per cent is still
unfinished."
Tan said the land buyers were in a quandary as they could not sue Alamanda
as it had been liquidated.
He added that the land buyers also became concerned after Alamanda's
liquidation when its liquidators entered into a sale and purchase
agreement to sell all its unsold properties to Vintage Development for
RM1.10 to RM1.15 per sq ft when the market price was RM3.
"When we looked further into this new developer, we realised that Vintage
is also a subsidiary of MBF Group of Companies, just as Alamanda was a
wholly-owned MBF Holdings Bhd subsidiary formerly known as MBF Country
Homes and Resorts Sdn Bhd," he said here yesterday.
Tan said the group hoped that legislators would take appropriate action to
address loopholes in the legal system to ensure such problems do not arise
in the future.
Earlier, the group had also filed a report with the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission over possible fraud and corruption over the
transactions.
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