Form JMB to ensure smooth operations, group told.

Bad state: Drains in the area which are not properly maintained are one of the grouses of high-rise residents.

ALL Commissioner of Buildings (COB) have been urged to ensure that Joint Management Bodies (JMB) are formed at all high-rise residential buildings as soon as possible.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Public Complaints Bureau head Datuk T. Murugiah said this after chairing a meeting with residents of Pangsapuri PKNS Jalan 4M in Ampang Jaya, the developer, management company, COB representatives and Syabas yesterday.

“All high-rise residential areas should have a JMB that will ensure the proper collection of maintenance fees and smooth running of operations,” he said, adding that most maintenance problems are due to poor collection of fees.

Murugiah said residents could not expect good service if they did not pay up their dues.

Such is the case of the 24-year-old flats that has eight blocks with 320 units.

Resident Anthony Chin, 60, a businessman, said the management should come up with a strict fees collection system that penalised late payers.

“Some owners owe more than RM5,000 in maintenance fee arrears and the management should take legal action or find some way to collect the money,” Chin said.

The developer, PKNS, appointed IM Global Property Consultants since Oct 1 to collect maintenance fees as well as arrange for the inaugural annual general meeting to be held where a JMB will be appointed.

“In the past three months, we were only able to collect 20% of the maintenance fees.

“As such, it is difficult to pay for the services, including grass-cutting and drain-cleaning,” IM Global Property Consultants senior property manager Mohamad Yusof Ali said.

He added that they had set Dec 18 for a meeting and residents would be briefed on the functions of the JMB appointed on the same day.

“Residents here are only required to pay RM15 per month for maintenance fees. If they pay up and the maintenance is still bad then I will come here personally and talk to PKNS to change the management,” he said.

Retiree Adiviah Soerrakiah, 60, listed several problems in the area.

“The roads in the flats area have not been paved for the past 10 years and it is uneven as well as full of potholes.

“The drains have not been cleaned in the past three months and plants are growing in it,” he said.

He added that he was also worried about the safety of children playing in a field near a area covered in undergrowth and trees.

Adiviah, who has been sending letters about the state of the flats to PKNS for the past 10 years, was also unhappy that the blocks had never been painted.

“Three of the blocks were painted last year courtesy of Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman Azmin Ali but there are still five more that are in bad condition,” he said, adding that the garbage disposal areas were leaking.