One elevator for 1,000 flat dwellers

By DAVID TAN (Star 2 April 2007)

ALTHOUGH there are three elevators at the Taman Manggis low-cost flats at Jalan Zainal Abidin in Penang, some 1,000 residents there are only using one elevator daily.

This is because the control panels for the other lifts were stolen five months ago.

Tanjung MP Chow Kon Yeow said without the control panels, the residents could not operate the elevators.

“There is currently only one elevator left with the control panels intact and functioning,” he said when visiting the low-cost flats.

“The residents have complained to the state Housing Department, which is responsible for the maintenance of the building.

“However, no action has been taken so far to replace the panels. The residents have also lodged police reports,” he said.

The low-cost flats in Jalan Kedah and Rifle Range had also recently faced such thefts too. Each panel costs about RM4,000.

Housing contractors are believed to be the buyers of such panels for their projects.

Residents at Taman Manggis pay RM100 for rental and RM24 for maintenance fee.

Hawker Ewe Poh Seng, 51, said that sometimes when the elevator was too congested, elderly people and children had to use the staircase.

Chow also urged the state government to review the ruling that prohibits the residents from installing the Astro satellite dish at flats.

“The television reception in the flats is quite bad, so the residents are appealing to the state government to allow them to install the dish,” he said.

“The rationale for not allowing the residents to install Astro cable is that Taman Manggis is a low-cost housing scheme, and the residents staying there are not supposed to be able to afford Astro pay television.

“I urge the state government to review this ruling as it infringes upon the rights of the residents,” he said.

Chow said the other complaints included poor lighting along the corridor and rubbish found strewn all over the building.

“I will write to state housing committee chairman Syed Ame-ruddin Syed Ahmad soon on the matter,” he said.