Malaysian Township’s land allotment raises its ugly head

The Malaysian Township’s illegal land allotment issue has surfaced again.

Residents of the giant residential venture complain of intervention by the mafia.

In 2002, the government floated a global tender to shortlist the builder to develop the project in association with APHB.

IJMI India was selected and a special purpose vehicle (SPV)— SITCO—was formed with 51 per cent share held by IJMI and 49 per cent by APHB.

There were total four zones and a total of around 2,200 apartments.

Mr Vivek Singh, a flat owner, said, “The total residential plots with approved layout was 11 acres. APHB sold 21.16 acres to apartment owners, excluding the lower income group. APHB got the approval for constructing only 28 buildings with five floors. But constructed 37 buildings with 11 floors.”

“Later, the extra height of the buildings was regularised by paying a penalty. They also fraudulently obtained the fire certificate, he added.

Another resident, Mr V. Gopala Rao, added, “The municipality also issued the occupancy certificate even though there were large scale violations of the approved layout.The builder maintained the township in 2008 and left it in 2009. Since there were many complaints, they handed it over to a group of local people who were politically connected. They are threatening people who are challenging the builder. The local police are also siding with them. So no cases are filed. If a case is filed in the court, the lawyers are influenced.”