Rival Waikiki group rebuts the claims
Published on: Thursday, August 16, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: The current Waikiki Management Corporation (WMC2017) has rebutted allegations of mismanagement on its part by a group of unit owners, as rivalry between both opposing sides continues to gain intensity ahead of their annual meeting on Saturday.Telling their side of the story, WMC2017 Chairman Jean Paul Gaston Boeldieu said the accusation that the current management had shut down the lift and left it inoperative for over nine months was untrue.He explained that the lift problem was not only due to wear and tear but also the "refurbishment" of the lifts by a former property manager and the previous management council (WMC2016) which was not only a total waste of money but also made the lifts unsafe with no proper ventilation and no escape hatch.
ADVERTISEMENT
The group's spokesperson, Berthrem Benjamin, had reportedly said on Tuesday that to date the lift was still inoperative and "to add salt to the wound, two lifts out of three are now inoperative."According to Boeldieu, only one lift was shut down last November which was during a former property manager's tenure in office.He disclosed that the lift maintenance contractor appointed by the previous management corporation (WMC2016) was terminated in June, this year, after they were unable to fix the lifts since February 2018. Another company was contracted by the current management in June.
ADVERTISEMENT
On Benjamin's accusation that the current management failed to improve the road conditions during the last 18 months in office, Boeldieu countered by saying that it made minor repairs in the same way the former council did."We decided not to proceed with major repair work because we want to get the owners' approval before spending about RM90,000 which we deem a significant amount of money," he said in a written response given to Daily Express.
ADVERTISEMENT
He also explained that the flooding in the basement carparks was the result of "waterproofing" works ordered by the previous council which the complainant's wife was a member.He claimed that the defective work caused massive amount of water flooding the basement carparks during heavy rain, as pointed out by Benjamin.On the leaking pipes, he said the problem has been going on for many years and claimed that the previous council members themselves did not solve it either."WMC2016 did not hand over any report on defects and estimated costs to the current council. Did they even know about all these defects or were they concealing them?" he asked.Boeldieu also defended the group's allegation that he left for his country, France, for more than six months and left the management of the condominium to a team of council members who struggled to manage it satisfactorily.He said he was only physically away for three and a half months but still kept in touch with other council members and was duly informed of all management meetings as well as approved decisions by email.In relation to this, he noted that Benjamin had concealed the fact that the chairman of WMC2015 and WMC2016 was not in Sabah for more than five months.He pointed out that the Land (Subsidiary Title) Enactment 1972 stipulates that the council must meet at least once a year. "WMC2017 has met more than 15 times," he said, claiming that the previous council only met nine times in their first year in office and four times in the second.He added that City Hall had visited the management office and a few council members paid a courtesy call on the Mayor."We understand that some owners were misrepresented by the group of owners who visited the Mayor before us," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
