Relieve for Villaria condominium buyers as project is finally complete

PETALING JAYA: The wait is finally over for 304 buyers of the Villaria affordable condominiums as the project has been successfully rehabilitated after it was abandoned almost 14 years ago.
Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said the state government sympathised with the buyers who had invested for a home but had their expectations dashed when the developer ran into financial difficulty in 2003 and was declared bankrupt in Aug 2005.
"Buyers have been traumatised by this experience. They had to live elsewhere while waiting for it to be finished when the delay was announced, and then they still had to finance bank loans even after it was abandoned," Azmin said during the key handover ceremony.
He said the state government inherited 115 abandoned projects involving more than 29,000 units during the change of administration in 2008 and this is the result of a flawed tender process that did not prioritise on merit.
Azmin said, however, developers seeking to develop affordable homes in Selangor are now required to register themselves in a Developer Administration System for records purposes.
"Developers that fail to deliver their projects on time will be penalised and developers with abandoned projects will be blacklisted from all government projects in Selangor," he said.
Azmin added that affordable housing projects will only be awarded to developers with a solid track record and strong financials to avoid similar incidents.
Masteron Sdn Bhd then won a tender in 2008 to rehabilitate the project at more than RM21 million, which was increased to RM24.8 million when construction began in June 2014 due to inflation.
Masteron subsidised RM5.2 million in costs while buyers paid an additional RM32,000 each, totaling to more than RM9 million, to finance the rehabilitation.
Construction was officially declared complete when the condominium received its Certificate of Fitness (CF) on Dec 31, 2015, and buyers have been moving in since.
State executive councillor for housing Datuk Iskandar Samad said although buyers had to pay more than the initial purchase price, it is estimated that the Villaria units can fetch up to RM450,000 in current market value.
Masteron managing director Datuk Choy Wai Ceong said the condominium units are just one part of the rehabilitation project and the company will be restoring 26 shoplot units and a bazaar with 170 stalls.