From left, Chong, Julien and Clifford, urge residents to settle their long overdue water bills.
Residents who attended the emergency meeting were angry about the water disconnection.
KOTA KINABALU: The occupants of 240 Taman Fajar Apartment units in Menggatal had their water supply cut off for three days due to non-payment of RM120,000 in overdue water bills owed to the Water Department.
Solivalue Sdn Bhd, the management corporation of Taman Fajar Apartment, managed to scrape together RM15,000 yesterday to settle the outstanding water bills and made an appeal to the Water Department to restore water supply to the residents.
The Water Department was reported to have agreed to temporarily restore water supply in 24 hours.
However, the Water Department has demanded the management corporation pay up RM35,000 within the next two weeks, and pay RM27,000 more owed by installments in the next five months.
Solivalue Sdn Bhd director, Chong Choong, urged the defaulting residents to settle their long overdue water bills to the management corporation, so that the corporation could clear the outstanding amount due to the Water Department, to avoid water disconnection to all residents.
Chong, who is also the developer of the apartments, said Taman Fajar Apartment phase two to phase four have been managed by Solivalue Sdn Bhd for the past 11 years.
The management corporation collects RM50 every month from the occupants of the 240 units in phase two, three and four for maintenance and repair purposes, he said.
The management corporation is also tasked with collecting water bill payments from the residents, and to subsequently pay the Water Department, he added.
Chong said that as some of the residents did not pay their water bills on time, some even had long overdue bills, the management corporation was unable to pay the amount due to the Water Department.
“Although we have asked the residents to pay their long overdue water bills numerous times, they remained uncooperative, which is why we now owe the Water Department RM120,000!” he said.
Chong said they received a warning letter from the Water Department around 10 days ago, demanding that the company settle their outstanding bill of RM120,000 or else the water supply would be disconnected.
“As the management corporation could not pay the sum demanded, the Water Department cut off the water supply at around 11am on November 26.
“For the next three days thereafter, residents of the 240 units in phase two, three and four will not have any water supply,” he said.
The disconnection of the water supply has angered many residents, especially those who have paid their bills on time, but now bear the consequences caused by residents who refused to pay their water bills.
The management corporation held an emergency meeting at noon yesterday which was attended by 60 residents. At the meeting chaired by Chong, two resolutions were passed.
The management corporation resolved to continue to demand the residents to pay up on their overdue bills. The management corporation also resolved to negotiate with the Water Department on the settlement of the outstanding amount.
Chong urged residents who have overdue bills to settle their bills immediately to prevent another water supply disconnection.
“We all live under the same roof. Everyone should look after each other, you should pay your bills, and not cause inconvenience to all the other residents.”
Also present were Solivalue Sdn Bhd manager, Julien David and Taman Fajar Apartment resident representative, Clifford F. Spencer.