BY VIJENTHI NAIR

Wanting progress: Ong (left)and Yong looking at one of the many newspaper reports on the abandoned Plaza Rakyat project that had yet to be revived after 18 years.

A GROUP of people who bought property in the abandoned Plaza Rakyat project in Jalan Pudu want Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to kickstart the project soon.

A representative of the 211 buyers, Steven Yong, 78, said they are disappointed that the project had yet to be revived eight months after it was taken over by DBKL.

“We have waited for 18 years, how long more should we wait.

“It was supposed to be completed in 2007.

“Some of the buyers have passed on, as most of us senior citizens.

“My only wish is to see the completion of the project before I die.

“We bought these units as investments to supplement our income in our later years, but instead, I have ended up paying interest to the bank for two decades.

“I have paid about RM300,000 on interest alone for two commercial units and I am still waiting for the project to start,” Yong said at a press conference called by Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun at the DAP service centre in Jalan Brunei last Saturday.

“Almost every year, we voice our grouses to the media.

“I really hope that this will be the last time,” he added.

Plaza Rakyat, a RM1.5bil mixed-development project was 30% completed about 15 years ago when the then-developer Plaza Rakyat Sdn Bhd (PRSB) ran into difficulties during the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis, forcing it to abandon the project.

The government decided to terminate PRSB’s contract in 2010, 12 years after the company abandoned the project.

The original plan for the development comprised a 79-storey office tower, 46-storey residential tower, 24-storey hotel and seven-storey shopping centre.

Another buyer Danny Ong, 57, said DBKL had offered the project to another company, Profit Consortium Sdn Bhd, but had yet to finalise the details of the agreement.

“We hope DBKL finalises the agreement by the end of August, otherwise we will seek legal advice to claim our shoplots and liquidated damages as per our sales and purchase agreements,” Ong said.

Fong said he had raised the issue many times in Parliament and to the Kuala Lumpur mayor during monthly meetings and the reply was always that it was still being negotiated.

“I would like to see that all the buyers be offered units at the original price they purchased them and not the current market rate, as well as be compensated equally for their long wait for the completion of the project.