Owners of sinking houses in Shah Alam agree to move out

The owners of 12 units of sinking houses in Jalan Plumbum 7/101A, Section 7, here, finally agreed to move out as the area has been categorised as a stage one disaster area.

Petaling District Officer Datuk Mohd Misri Idris said the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS), as the housing developer, had also agreed to bear the evacuation costs, including to provide a list of houses available for rental for the affected owners.

"They have to move out by latest on Wednesday. If they don't have any place to move into, they can inform the PKNS, so there should be no reason for them not to move out.

"We have received the cooperation of the developer of I-City to stop their project temporarily to enable monitoring work be done on the soil structure in the affected area," he said when met after a meeting with the affected residents.

Mohd Misri said no directive to move out was issued for other units in the same area as the soil structure was still safe and unaffected, but PKNS would continue to monitor the situation from time to time for public safety.

Asked about the possible causes of the sinking, Mohd Misri did not rule out continuous rain, other than the rapid development of I-City.

He said PKNS would rehabilitate the affected area soon.

In the meantime, an affected resident, Andrew Devidass, 36, said the offer to buy back the sinking houses should be made according to the current market price.

He said it would be difficult for him and other residents to find a similar house with the compensation of RM405,000 offered by PKNS.

"We can sell the house if PKNS can make an offer according to the current market price," he said.

Marziah Mahmud, 43, claimed PKNS had given the same excuse for the problem when it occurred the first time 2008.

She said they should have found out the cause of the problem by now and had drawn up the best way to solve it.