Bomba pipe replacement

we are at the moment replacing quite a sizable length of Bomba underground pipe near the swimming pool foyer area, it's a long overdue project which we plan to do first quarter of this year, but due to lacking of fund then we only can do it now at the second quarter of 2015.

well, another 2 projects which also should be carried out in first quarter but still can't be done up to this day due to money problem are the lift T&G scanner & water tank :(

back to the bomba pipe, sometimes ago we have noticed that the bomba pump had been set to manual mode instead of supposedly auto mode, after much investigation, the conclusion is a section of bomba pipe at the swimming pool entrance is crack & it made the pump pressure keep dropping, and if the pump is to set to auto mode then there will be wasting a lot of water & current as the pump need to keep running in order to generate enough pressure, and we subsequently contacted few vendor to have a look on the problem but didn't go ahead with them as we were not convinced of their workmanship and proposal.

so we have reluctantly left the pump in the manual mode, always reminded the supervisor & guard to ON the pump in case of fire, but deep in our heart there's no peace, because we are not sure if the guard (especially those new guard).

until last year, when the issue was brought up again by the newly elected MC, we felt that we should get this done as soon as possible as we have found the reliable fire fighting facility vendor to maintain our equipment, but then the finance was an issue because the quoted price RM14K was out of our reach.

thank God, after months of effort to build the fund, we lastly in the good financial position to replace the Bomba pipe, and the vendor also kind enough to reduce the price to abt RM12K (we also have another 2 quotations for the same project, quoted 16K & 20K respectively), even can be paid in 2 installment, so few weeks ago we have confirmed the project with them & now they are installing the new pipe for us :)

it will take few days to complete it, meanwhile we will open the pool side gate residents to enter the swimming pool area, after the completion, we should check & make sure all the Bomba riser room hose reel & valve are still in good condition to hold the pressure when we set the pump to auto mode, or else it may burst & water will flow into the lift, which can cause major break down to the lift, like what happened abt 3 years ago....scary experience.....

let's pray that everything will ok, thanks.

our aging main water pipes

looks like our various main pipes are yelling for our attention recently....

after we have replaced the underground PBA main pipe in blk k parking area some weeks ago, we found that on the floor abt 3 meter away from the newly replaced pipe there's water too, and now we suspect another section of underground main pipe may facing the same problem, crack...... :(

to make the situation more worrying, past few weeks we received & attended to few corridor main water pipe burst cases, those main pipes are supplying water to every residents' unit, you can find it before resident's PBA meter, normally when these main pipe crack, the water will flow out from the main pipe & flooded the corridor area, worse case then it will go into nearest resident's house, and the bad bad bad one will flow into the lift & cause short circuit, and eventually kill the lift electrical component & cause major break down, which happen before to blk k lifts, it will take at least two days to make the lifts move again as the the components need to be dried up first before necessary repair works can be carried out.

to replace all these main pipes will cost huge sum of money, we don't think if rely on our maintenance fund alone can have sufficient fund to handle this job, so eventually we still need to run to the gov't for help, especially the state gov't 80%/20% arrangement for the low medium cost apartments like Vista Condo.

now we got to face the fact that most of our main pipes are at the end of their life span, and we need to make plan to replace them, as soon as possible, perhaps in the coming AGM we will share more with our residents, and may propose to collect monthly sinking fund (maybe RM10) so that when gov't approve our request to replace the main pipes, we will have enough money to pay for our 20%.

thanks.

ok...we are financially ready....

yes, generally speaking, we are financially ready now for the water tank project :)

just to recap a bit, we need to deposit 20%, or RM81000 into state gov't account to secure the work order for the vendor to start the project, as he willing to pay 45K for existing water tank trade in, and provide 15K loan for the project, then our side just need to get ready 21K to make up 81K, and we just check our bank balance plus this 2 days' collection, it seems we are in the good position for the project.

what next? well, barring any real real real urgent maintenance matter which big money is needed, then we should as soon as possible sign some agreement with the vendor for the trade in, loan arrangement as mentioned above, and he will get the documents duty stamped & release the money for us to issue banker's cheq for the 20%.

we are looking at the time line of next week for agreement to be completed & money to be released toward end of week or early of following week, and prayerfully no other hindrances on the way.

.....5 minutes ago just gave a few calls to some MC members (also office bearers) to update them on the financial status, they too felt that we should go ahead now with the project, so now we must waste no time but to call the vendor to get all the documents ready tomorrow or day after.

will update our residents on this, from time to time. Thanks.

general updates as at 23/05/15

hi, few matters to update our residents....

1) the new security guard company has taken over the guard post since 15/05/15, we want to thank the previous guard company & the boss for their support for the past few years, and we wish them well in other projects. the new company's name Aura Security Services Sdn Bhd, we hope that they will do the good job here, anyway the guard post phone number still the same, ie 017-4290637, residents feel free to call the guard on duty for security related matters, also other things like foreigner using our swimming pool, renovator over stay, stranger hanging around at common areas.....

2) we missed the self imposed dateline for the water tank project on middle of the May due to the same reason, not enough money even though the vendor willing to loan us RM15K, but our collection has been coming in very slowly so can't gather enough money for putting up 20% to deposit into gov't account for the project to get started. actually we just need to come up with 20K as vendor willing to absorb our existing water tank with 45K, plus the loan 15K, then in total we should issue the banker's cheq amounting to 81K which is 20% of total project cost. we hope end of May we will have enough money for that.

3) received report in our last posting that bike owner's item got stolen in common area, our suggestion is try as much as possible to park your bikes in the coverage of CCTV & don't leave valuable item at your bikes. the same applied to the those items residents kept at their main entrance & corridor area, especially nice shoes, pls keep them in your house as corridor is not covered by CCTV, and as in Vista Condo we have abt 1000 residents, for sure some of them are the itchy hand fella who will turn into pencuri once see opportunity....shame on them!

4) few weeks ago the management have no choice but to deduct RM300 from the renovation deposit of a resident, so for this case he only can claim back RM200 instead of RM500, of course he was not too happy but then the management need to be firm in this case because his renovator had been frequently violating many house rules, still there are 2 more units which the deposit will be deducted due to same reason, so now the office just waiting for the owners to come & claim the deposit, then the owner will taste his own medicine.

5) some foreigner hostel's landlords did come to office wanted to pay monthly service charge (SC) but refuse to pay the new rate of RM500, after some unhappy conversation with the office staffs, they decided don't pay the SC, well, it's better for them to move out the foreigner factory worker or else they may need to pay more in the future as some residents have suggested to increase their SC further to RM800.

thanks.

no posting this week

hi,

no posting this week, will resume next week.

thanks & regards.

likely breakthrough in May for water tank

we are praying hard now for big breakthrough in May for our water tank project, which the state gov't has agreed to sponsor 80% of the cost, but it has been delayed until because we can't produce the 20% to be deposited into their account in order for the work order to be issued to the chosen for them to start the project.

we have learned the painful lesson that we should get ourselves ready financially speaking, so that in the future when gov't approve our request on the big project such as building repainting or lifts upgrade & expect us to bear the 20% (which is the standard requirement for low medium cost apartment like Vista Condo) then we can deposit it immediately so the it won't cause any unnecessary delay, especially for the urgent one.

so, for this water tank project, we have obtained the approval in February, but can't proceed due to lack of fund in our account, as we were expected to bear 20%, which is RM81K as the total project cost is RM405K, the delay is truly unnecessary because the vendor to absorb our existing water tank with 40K payment in advance, but we can't even pay the 41K, sad....

after few months of praying & trying our best to save some money, thank God for some defaulters came & paid their old debt, and we can safely contribute from our account abt 20K, and even the vendor also kind enough to advance to us some more money (besides the advance payment for absorbing the existing water tank) in the middle of May so the we can gather in total 81K to deposit into state gov't account for the work order to be issued to start work, we hope by middle May we can have 25k from the account so that we only need to borrow from the water tank vendor 16K.

let's pray with us for this project to proceed & be completed smoothly.....thanks.

new service charge for foreigner hostel

so, starting this month, those unit turned into foreigner's hostel will need to pay service charge (SC) of RM500, compare to usual rate of RM100 per month.

it was a decision passed during the EGM, where residents voted for this new rate, and for more than a month's time we have contacted the landlord & their agent to advice them not to continue to rent to the factory to make their unit to be hostel, but too bad our advice fell into deaf ear, so no more chance will be given & we need to carry out the decision by our residents, impose the new rate in May.

in fact to our displeasure, we also find out despite of the new rate which will be imposed, some unit which previously still rent to local peoples, now the owner have just recently make it a foreigner's hostel, it seems that their profit is so high until they willing to pay for the RM500 SC, some info we got from our residents that these units can rent out as high as more than RM1200 rental per month!

of course some landlord did protest, quoted excuses like didn't receive news, or already signed tenancy agreement until year end, or foreigner tenant didn't create problem in our place....we only can tell them that MC don't have the right to change the decision of the EGM, they still need to pay RM500 if they choose to make their unit to be hostel, we also warned them next EGM the rate may go even higher, because we have received feedback that RM500 may be too little compare to the profit of the landlord get from the factory, perhaps increase to RM1000 will be better option.

another measure will be soon taken is lift scanner system (for this, the T&G card won't issued to foreigner's hostel) which also suggested & decided in the EGM, but now we are saving money for the water tank & bomba pipe replacement (these 2 project will be soon started, most likely June), but we will install the lift scanner as soon as got enough finance for that, it may be very soon as one supplier willing to let us have 12 monthly installment & very reasonable price, we would like to see the system is up soon!

again, like to take this opportunity to advice those landlord, for the sake of Vista Condo safety, quiet living environment, property value....and other valid reasons, pls stop renting your unit out as foreigner's hostel.

we also like to ask help from our residents that pls send info (unit number) to us if there's foreigner's hostel near your unit so that we won't miss any unit when we charge them with the new rate.

thanks.

general updates as at 25/4/15

time to update our beloved residents concerning the happening in Vista Condo...

1) the job for replacing the faulty under ground conceal main pipe at blk k parking area already completed, it took abt one week to finish, now we are monitoring the water flow rate at the main drain besides the blk k, the full payment will be made only after we are sure that the job is indeed done properly.

2) new office clerk Ishak has reported to work, he is replacing the the previous clerk Ah Lai, hope he is an efficient worker, just for resident's info, another veteran staff Mr Rahman's role is building supervisor, so most of the time he will check on our common area, attends to residents' complaint, also to monitor the work of other vendor like guards, housekeeping staffs, renovators, etc.

3) we have sent the letters to all the unit owner of the foreigners hostel to ask them not to convert their unit to be hostel and if they insist then new rate of service charge RM500 will be imposed starting May 2015, so far some of them responded & still negotiating of moving out the tenants but most of them just don't bother, well, let's see how it goes in May....

4) some residents suggested in the previous posts that should put the defaulters' unit number & outstanding amount at the notice board (or other places which many peoples will pass by), we thought this this is workable idea, so from next month onward, defaulters' detail will be up at the notice board at every middle of the month, hope this will create some pressure for them to pay SC promptly.

thanks.

challenges of prolonging Vista Condo life span (part 2)

last article we mentioned abt if based on our regular monthly collection on the SC (Service Charge), as long as we can maintain 85% collection rate, then we should have enough fund to maintain our existing facilities, even to upgrade it, but for those major items like building repainting, water tanks replacement, lifts upgrade, major PBA & sewerage pipe replacement then gov't financial aid is definitely needed, for most of the cases, state gov't will absorb 80% & residents will bear the 20% of the total cost, for Vista Condo we are consider fortunate as state gov't recognise s as LMC (low medium cost) apartment which open door for us to approach state gov't for help :)

our challenge now is how to get ourselves ready for the 20% whenever gov't is willing to fund the 80%. 2 years ago when state gov't approved our request to upgrade blk k lift, where we need to deposit abt RM34k as 20% so that the upgrade work can be commenced, it also took us awhile to gather enough money for that purpose, so this time when gov't willing to absorb the 80% of the total cost for 10 water tanks replacement, we can't produce the 20% which is RM81K, so the project has been delayed until now :(

the water tank vendor is kind enough to let us trade in our existing water tanks with high price at 40K, even willing to channel in the money in advance so that our side only need to contribute RM41K to get the project started, but sad to say, we don't even have 41K at the moment but only 20K.

well, we believe in another 2 months' time we will have that 41K, but now what interest us more is, how abt future project? as we are planning to get gov't to help on main pipe replacement, building repainting, blk j lift upgrade, etc. we should always have the money ready to pay the 20% when gov't is ready to bear the 80%.

if possible, we would like to suggest in the coming AGM to collect RM10 every month from each unit as Vista new sinking fund (the old sinking fund still pending on further legal action), but pls understand this is jz a suggestion, we can't proceed with this without residents' approval.

we will like to see every month to collect abt RM2750 as Vista have 275 unit & deposit into sinking fund account, then in a year's time should have RM33000, 2 years is RM66000, 3 years RM99000, if FD rate is 4% then after 3 years the figure should hit RM100000 :)

the whole purpose is so that when gov't say yes to our future request for building repainting, or blk j lifts upgrade, or other major project few years from now, we can deposit our 20% straight away & the new project can start immediately, and our residents can enjoy it's benefit without the unnecessary delay.

what do u think?

thanks.

challenges of prolonging vista condo life span (part 1)

we always told each others (haha! most of us in our 40s already) our generation are consider very fortunate, as many of us are capable to purchase an apartment in Penang, because many graduates who although have worked for few years, but still can't afford to buy an apartment due to the skyrocketing of property value in the past few years, now in Penang, a 700sqft apartment (like Vista Condo) with reasonable facility worth easily 280k, imagine those days when most of us purchased the property in late 1990s' until late 2000s', only cost abt 100k.

while federal govt & state govt busy introducing some cooling measure trying to control property value (such as increase real property gain tax, stricter loan condition, affordable housing, etc), we still don't expect property value will drop, especially those in range of 250k to 400k may still increase in the much slower pace, perhaps the high end one like more than 600k will have little bit problem to push their unit, anyhow price won't drop, unless the bubble burst in future, which is quite unlikely....

latest statistic shows that Penang will see increase of population 100,000 person per year, which needs abt new 25,000 house in every year, this speak of house/apartment still in demand, especially those in 250k to 400k are in shortage, so for Vista Condo, your unit still sell-able in future, as long as our facilities still in good shape.

so now the challenge is, how to maintain the facilities in good shape in order to make Vista Condo remain attractive in the market? basically for condo living, some critical area need to pay more attention to, for market value and also residents' living, the lifts, the water tanks, various pumps, major electrical items found in the switch rooms.....

Vista Condo as a 20 years old apartments, understandably that many facilities have reached the end of life span, so we are slowly replacing these facilities, in the past few years, 2 lifts in blk k have been upgraded, 2 swimming pool pump & filter replaced, 1 residential pump also changed, some important but no so critical items like gutters, underground pipes also replaced in some area...

at the moment if based on our monthly collection of Service Charge, as we find way to maintain it at 85% collection rate, then we still able to replace the aging facilities, but for the future replacement of the more major items such as water tanks, lifts at blk j, bomba & residential pumps, bomba pipes, PBA common pipes, then govt's help is needed, but as their financial help only 80%, our future challenge will be how to produce the 20% even when the govt has agree to contribute 80%.

this is the situation we are facing now, the gov't willing to bear 80% of the water tanks project, which is abt 320K, residents suppose to contribute the 20% or 81k, but as the vendor is kind enough to absorb our existing tanks at 40K, but we still can't produce the remaining 41K to order the get the project started, and it's delay until today....

we will share more next week on few options to tackle this, pls also contribute your opinions so that hopefully at the end we will be able to start the govt funded-projects as soon as possible whenever govt's fund is available, for other project as well.

thanks.

some updates on the foreigner hostel

before we share some updates on the hostel issue, we also wish to inform our beloved residents that the yr2015 insurance premium is RM215.30 & quit rent is RM9.60, pls do kindly proceed payment at the management office so that we can settle with insurance agent as early as possible :)

yes concerning the foreigner's factory hostel, last month we saw another 2 unit have jz moved in, so now the total is 12 units officially, what a frustration we have!!!

we have got the landlords' number from the management office & called them personally, there are few numbers can't get through, and one wrong number too. But we managed to talk to some of them, only one landlord give the positive response that he will try to ask the agent to move out the foreigners but ask for more time, but another few landlords display some uncooperative attitude, but we have made it clear to them that our residents have passed the resolution in EGM to increase their service charge (SC) to RM500 per month if they continue to keep the foreigner factory workers in their unit.

this coming week the management office will send the notice to the landlords informing them their SC will increase to RM500 effective May'15, we expect some big hoohaa from them after they receive the notice, but since they have chosen to ignore the verbal warning through phone calls so we got to send them some official notice, in fact we have also talked to lawyer & MPPP concerning this.

actually it's offense of the law by converting residential unit into hostel, for which we also will send the list of hostel detail to MPPP soon for them to act, in short, we try to corner these unit from whatever angle which is available, and hope that the landlord will have common sense to stop renting their unit to the foreigner workers.

we are collecting more quotations for the lift T&G scanner system, once our finance is more ready then the system will be installed in our 4 lifts, for which the access card would not be issued to the hostels, this is another way of discouraging these units to be turned into hostels.

do share with if you guys have good ideas to tackle this problem, thanks.

general updates as at 28/3/15

few matters like to update our beloved Vista Residents,

1) Foreigners hostel, the MC committees are all out to stop the any unit to be converted into foreigner factory hostel, at the moment soft approach are taken, office staffs have contacted owner to advice them not to rent their unit to be factory, in a short while committee members will be calling them too, also posters have been pasted at notice board for the same purpose, next we will do the banner to make it clear that factory hostel are indeed not welcome here. if these actions still ignored by the landlord then lift T&G system will be used to stop the trend.

2) Lift T&G system, we are at the moment getting more quotation & proposal for this, first round meeting on the system will be held this coming Sunday, besides the quality of devices & after sale service, we are also checking with vendor on the payment term, if the vendor is kind enough to give us longer term payment, ideally 12 installment spread throughout a year, then we can foresee this system will be installed very soon.

3) underground conceal pipe at car park, after few weeks of checking, getting vendors to quote, comparing quotations, negotiating the price & payment term, we are finally ready to replace the conceal main pipe which has collapsed a while ago, the location of the said main pipe is in between blk k & main rubbish room, this has caused water stagnant at the drain at the ground floor of blk k, work should be commenced early next week, slight delay of the earlier schedule of this week end, the whole project will cost us abt RM7000, warranty one year.

4) Fire insurance premium & quit rent 2015, as our residents have chosen the fire insurance coverage option during the EGM, and as the office is going to pay the 2015 quit rent early next week, the committee will meet this Sunday to decide how much is the total amount for insurance premium & quit rent which our resident need to pay, normally the office won't mark up the amount, but will round up the figure so that it will be easier for both our residents & office staff when payment is being made, we should be able to notify our residents on the figure next week, through the notice at the notice board.

Thanks.

EGM report

our EGM concluded smoothly on the wednesday, ended at abt 10.30pm, counted more than 60 unit owners attended the meeting, some came early some came a bit late, we feel very encouraged by the participation by our residents during the discussion time.

3 major decision made during the EGM, first is the fire insurance policy, after some discussion among the residents, & briefing by the agent Mr Lee, the option of coverage up to 250K get the most of the votes, so the renewal of the fire insurance policy will be arranged according to this decision, very soon the management will come up with the notice to inform all the Vista Condo residents concerning the premium & quit rent for this.

second major decision is abt the lift T&G scanner system, for this matter, we see almost all the residents who attended the EGM would like to see the system installed in all of the lifts, once our finance is in the good position to do that. in fact residents even proposed & agreed that all the entry point of the ground floor staircase should install the similar system too, so that it will be more effective to block those hardcore defaulters, irresponsible renovators, unauthorized outsiders & foreign workers from entering the premises.

the last one is the most explosive issue, the foreigners' hostel, we can feel the concern of our residents abt this, as we can see now more & more units have converted into foreigners' hostel. after much discussion on the options, residents voted to increase the service charge of the units which have become foreigners' hostel to RM500 per month! the management will contact the landlord to inform them abt the decision, and we hope that the landlord will feel the pinch & stop renting their units to the factory agent. we will also considering other options which will help to get rid of factory hostel, like to put up notices to show our disapproval on the hostel, to arrange for the police operasi, etc.

some other matters also be mentioned, but mainly for info only, include sinking fund, water tank project & building repainting.

thanks.

another flat 88?

a committee member reported that just in last week, another group of foreigner factory workers moved into Vista Condo, by the size of the group, he estimated maybe another 2 units in Vista Condo have turned into factory hostel :(

according to the unofficial statistic we have, there's abt 10 units now foreigners hostel in Vista Condo, our concern is it may increase if we don't stop the trend now, especially our location & rental are very ideal for factory worker to stay here, distance to their work place is short, even to amenities also convenient, like queensbay, BJ complex, metropolitan park, air port, market, makan place & pasar malam...etc.

few days ago chit chatting with the Chinese day guard, he stays in the apartment behind the Relau Public bank, the white color one, he said now in his place, most of the unit have turned into factory hostels, just like another flat 88 near our place, as all of know that, flat 88 and it's around apartments are full of foreigner factory workers & their hostels, one reason why their property value are much lower than other apartments, and needless to say, safety is another issue.

Vista Condo need to do something now before it's too late, we would like to invite as many residents as possible to come for the EGM this coming wednesday (18/3/13) 8pm to discuss how to tackle this problem, at the moment some idea in our mind includes to install T&G system in the lifts but not giving the card to the foreigner hostels, also to increase service charge on those units which become foreigner hostels, to sign petition and send to the hostel landlord to urge them stop renting their unit to the factory, to report to the government on these cases because Vista Condo as LMC (low medium cost) apartment should not rent it out as foreigner hostel.

so, if you are reading this, pls do come for the EGM, and bring your neighbors too, hopefully together we will find a good solution to overcome this challenge.

thanks.

EGM on 18/3/15

in last MC meeting, committees decided to call an EGM on 18/3/15, 8pm to decide on few matters.

first is the fire insurance, we have mentioned much in the last post concerning, so won't touch much on this topic now at this post, just to recap, it's to let residents to decide what kind of coverage they wish to have, higher coverage will come with higher premium, so most likely we will present to residents package of 200K, 250K and 300K for residents to decide.

second one will be the lift T&G scanner system, for we have checked around (especially in the blog) and found out most of the residents prefer to have the scanner system in our lifts, mainly due to safety issue as it will help prevent outsider to come to our blocks easily, but it also will help to force the hardcore defaulters to pay their outstanding service charge, especially those staying at 4th flr & above.

another benefit is to make sure the renovators to behave better, with this system in place, the management can bar the card which given by the house owner to the renovator for their house renovation if the renovator keep breaking our house rules. at the moment we only rely on security guard & management to do spot check & advice them if they break our rules, but very hard to stop them from entering into our place, so with the lift scanner system, we just need to bar the card then they can't function anymore.

we will also touch on the foreigners hostel topic, to find the way together with residents on how to deal with it, because according to law the owner of the unit can rent to anyone they like, but from our side we also need to do our part to protect local residents' welfare, some of the method we would like to propose to residents including not to issue lift T&G scanner card to those unit which have been rented out as factory hostel, but for doing that we will need to include it into our house rules, for that purpose we will need residents to approve in the EGM......

so, see you all in the coming EGM, thanks.

EGM in March (for fire insurance)

we will call an EGM (extraordinary general meeting) in March, mainly for the renewal of fire insurance, at the same time, may also bring up other matters for residents to consider, or approval for implementation.

our current fire insurance policy will expire at the end of March, at this time we feel we should let resident to decide what kind of coverage they wish to have, especially for the last few years, our property value has jumped up so much!

in year 2009, when JMB jz took over the management from the developer, the insurance premium per unit was abt RM95, as those days the property value per unit in Vista was abt RM140k, then the following few years we kept it at the same rate but later on we forced to rise to RM105 as property value increased to abt 180k per unit, the reason of the rise of the insurance premium is to provide bigger coverage for resident's apartment shall fire happen in the unit, but early last year as property value has reached 220K per unit, we forced to increase the premium to RM125 per unit, this has caused some complaint from residents as they don't understand the reason of the increment on the premium, worse still, some residents have even speculated some hanky panky may have taken place in our dealing with the insurance matter.

so as now, property value has further increased to abt RM300k per unit, inevitably, the coverage need to be up again, in another words, premium will increase too. so this time we have got the insurance agent to quote us the coverage at few level, from 150k, 200k, 250k and 300k. Each level of coverage will come with different amount of premium, we will present the packages to residents for them to choose, and during the EGM we will try our best to explain to our residents the detail of the plan, we also may invite the insurance agent to attend the EGM, and if it's needed then we will get him to answer the question.

the MC will meet on this Sunday to discuss abt this, once finalized then the notice of meeting will be sent to our residents, we trust that our residents will make the best decision during the EGM.

thank you.

no posting...due to CNY holidays

hi guys, no posting this week, busy bringing our family members for CNY holidays function :)

some interesting facts abt water tanks installation

for past few weeks, we have been working like crazy for the water tank matters, checking around for the regulation concerning installing new waters, negotiating with vendor abt the trade in price for our existing tanks, even talked to him to see possible to install bigger tanks for our blk k (bigger than the unit quoted by him earlier), also try to anticipate possible situation during the installation of bew water tank....

after talking to experts & relevant authorities, some interesting facts like to share with our beloved residents...

- PBA & other authorities don't have right to instruct us what kind of tank or the volume of the tank we are going to install, at first we were quite concern abt do we need their approval for project like this, but after checking with few dept, we found it's MC & residents' right to choose what type (and size) of tank they want to use.

- the size of the tanks is not as important as the performance of the water pump in regard of making sure continuing supply of water to our residents, earlier on we did have concern that the new tanks may not be big enough compare to the existing tank, but after talking to few specialists who are well verse in this line, they said as long as the pumps are running smoothly, then we should not worry too much abt the size of the tanks, but of course we still prefer bigger tank for blk k as more units there, so now we are still pushing vendor to provide bigger tanks for blk k, but it also depend on how much is the additional cost, if we can afford then we should go ahead with the idea.

- fiberglass tank is consider new idea in Penang, at first we thought many apartments have already installed fiberglass tank, because recently we heard a lot abt this, but as we check around wish to see the real fiberglass tank, we found out so far only one apartment project in Jelutong has done so, most of the apartment in Penang still using the the traditional steer type or PV type, anywhere we were told by the vendor & our specialist that fiberglass tank are equally good as steer type, haha...hope so :)

still many things need to be finalized before the installation take place, this is to make sure smooth process when the work is commenced, for this is a big project indeed.

thanks.

early challenges of the water tanks

after few rounds of discussion with the tank vendor, through face to face meeting & phone conversation, now we realise that to replace all the water tanks for Vista Condo is indeed a very tough job.

and the toughest one, is to replace the water tank at the ground floor of each block, for info, the ground floor water tank serve the purpose of keeping the water from PBA, before it's sent to the roof top tanks through the water pumps, in our case, our residents are using the water directly from the roof top tanks.

here the tricky part is, to replace one tank will take abt one week, so when the vendor is taking the one week for the ground floor tank, no water will supply to the roof top tanks, and the roof top tanks can only keep the water good for 2 to 3 days for our residents usage...headache!

one of the solution suggested by vendor seems more workable for our situation here is to put a temporary tank at the ground floor while installing the new tank, so that this temporary tank will do the job of keeping the water from PBA, and to this, the size of temporary tank should be similar to our existing tank, which is 8 ft(height) by 8 ft(length) by 12 ft(depth), if the size is too small then it can't keep up the pace of the water consumption by our residents, and in fact, the vendor is willing to provide the temporary tank to solve this problem, well, it will lead to another challenge ;)

where to place the temporary tank?

our existing pump room's space at the ground is just enough to cater for one tank, which means while the vendor is dismantling the old tank, the temporary tank got to be in place to take over the job, but as there no more space in pump room, we got to place the temporary tank outside the pump room, and bear in mind of the size, now we got find a right place for it....

it got to be somewhere very near to the pump because it need to connect to the pump & the control panel, another headache!

as we look at it, it will be most likely using the motorcycle parking area, or the air well next to the pump room, but we will wait for vendor to come and check again if these places is feasible for the purpose, hope that it's the right place for the temporary tank :)

let's continue to pray for the smooth process for the tanks installation, thanks.

general update as at 31/1/15

hi, few updates for our beloved Vista residents,

1) concerning the new water tanks, we have discussed abt this in the MC meeting & decided to visit the chosen vendor's facility first before we give him the ultimate go ahead for this project. the purpose of this visit is to make sure that the company is truly capable of handling this big project, and at the same time to discuss with him in detail abt the plan & schedule of installing the new tanks, the visitation will take place next week, we don't foresee any big issue here, furthermore they are kind enough to let us trade in our old tanks with some good value, which will be a great help for us to deposit into the gov't account for the 20% of total cost as per requirement.

2) last night, the blk k residents hit by water shortage problem, we have first received the complaint at abt 9pm, then few MC members rushed to the pump room to check the pumps, found that the 2 pumps & their control circuit were functioning, but ground floor water tank got less than half tank of water. then we went quickly go to the roof top to check, all the tanks were almost empty. we concluded that the inflow water of the ground water tank is too slow, causing the pump didn't manage to send enough water to the roof top tanks for blk k residents to use, so we quickly called the swimming pool vendor to get his contact to help, they both came at abt 11pm, did the checking, found out a rubber at the ground floor tank inflow area was out of position, it blocked the water & causing the mentioned problem. then the vendor adjusted the rubber into the position it suppose to be, so immediately inflow water back to normal pressure level, hence problem rectified. the vendor will come back again in a day or two, to replace the rubber if it's needed.

3) we have engaged a new electrician & his company to do general maintenance & repair for Vista electrical facility, this is due to the new company is with all the proper registration with the relevant authority, and manpower is sufficient for serving the facility. but anyhow we also want to thank the former electrician for helping us all these while, especially during the few big crisis in past 2 years, where he really show some good commitment for the job, but too bad as his business grows, he also found it hard to attend to our requests, so as he also voiced out to us his desire to focus more on his other business, so we thought it's a right time to replace him, then with the management lady recommendation, we have interviewed the new vendor & decided to use him, trust that the new electrician will provide good service.

thanks.

new water tanks in sight :)

lastly, lastly, lastly, we have got the letter from Jabatan Kewangan Negeri to confirm on the water tanks!

on THURSDAY we have received a phone call from the department, ask us if we want them to send the letter to us or we will drop by Komtar to collect from them (as earlier on we have told them to call us once the letter is ready), without second thought we asked them to keep the letter for us & we will go there on the same day to take from them, so after the long wait, we have seen the letter on that day!

in fact the deal is much better than what we first expected, we must thank God for His help, also thank the state gov't for their generosity...., the proposal they have picked for us is for 10 new water tanks, fiber glass type, total cost is RM405K, wow!!!!

out of this 405K, 80% or RM324K will borne by state govt, whereas 20% or 81K will need to be paid thru management fund, for this is the arrangement for low medium cost apartment (LMC) project funded by state gov't, it's got be based on 80% / 20% arrangement.

(we are fortunate enough to be considered as LMC apartment, as the first selling price by the developer those days was RM80K, which qualifies us to be LMC, many apartments in the neighborhood can't be considered as LMC, which make it very very very difficult to get the state gov't to fund projects like us,we also want to thank God for this LMC status. yeah must thank YB Yeoh Soon Hin too, because he also helped to send a letter to the kewangan to confirm Vista Condo is a LMC project)

concerning the 20% or 81K which to be borne by Vista Condo, we have talked to the contractor who is chosen to handle this project, he is willing to let us trade in our existing 10 water tanks (blk j roof top 4x, blk k roof top 4x, blk j pump room 1x, blk k pump 1x) to him with the price very close to RM80K, and the best is that he will try as much as possible to pay us in advance some big portion of the money so that we are able to get the bank to issue banker cheq for 81K, because by procedure we need to deposit this 20% into the state treasury for them to issue the work order to the contractor, but all these proposal must be approved by the MC in this coming meeting, haha...! hope that no one will object this :P

so....., even now we are still very happily digesting this piece of great news, and thank God for His favor upon Vista Condo....

alamak!!! no letter yet :(

waiting is torturing, as we always said.

we have been pulling our neck & hope for the official letter concerning the water tank replacement for one whole week already, but still see no sight of it :(

almost everyday we check with the office to see if postman drop to them any letter from state gov't, every time got disappointed, for we are waiting eagerly for the letter so that we can talk to the chosen vendor for them to get ready for the project, and hope to see it start as early as February, but....

perhaps we are just a bit impatient, so such letter needs some signature from those high ranking officers, like YB or EXCO member, common sense tells us it will definitely take awhile to get them to sign, so to expect the letter to arrive in the past one week maybe is too optimistic.

yesterday contacted the EXCO office, the reply is we should receive it on this Friday, if not then the following week will get it, it gives us an impression that the letter has been sent out but hasn't reach us yet, as we didn't get the letter yesterday (Friday), we hope that on Monday or Tuesday we will see the letter, then we should inform our residents so that all of us can rejoice together :)

waiting....waiting...waiting...real torturing.... :P

good news for water tanks is near?

now we are a bit anxious, and impatient too, after we heard some reply from the EXCO office :)

but it's good problem if these considered as problem :P

few days ago when we checked with the EXCO office concerning our request on the new water tanks, to be more exact, 8 new water tanks for Vista Condo, to replace the existing water tanks which located at the roof top of blk J & K, total cost for the project is more than RM350K, and their reply really get us unsettled.

they said YES, our request is approved & pls wait for the official letter!!! Wow, thank God for His blessing for Vista Condo!

but waiting is torturing...., how we wish we can get the letter now and share the good news immediately with our beloved residents by putting it at the notice board, for indeed this is the biggest allocation of fund we have received all these years!

we understand that many residents are hoping the building to be painted soon, but in committee we know well that unless the water tanks are in good condition, or else the water leaked from the water tank will soon damage the new paint at the building wall, and it's not the best option to paint the building without having the new water tank. So now as we receive news abt the new water tanks approval, we just want to thank God for this arrangement.

we have looked at our account, talked to various vendor & even some residents concerning the 20% of the cost which we need to absorb, and we are in the good position to pass this money to govt for them to issue the work order to the chosen vendor to start the work, and we hope that state treasury will soon forward us the letter concerning this project so that we can trigger the process to bring the new water tanks for our Vista Condo.

waiting....waiting...waiting...

year 2014 review, highlights

year 2014 just concluded, as we look back, it was a year which we got more reason to be happy than despair :)

no doubt there were sad incidents which have caused same anxieties, like blk J lift rope problem which came so suddenly, and for more than 3 weeks the lift was out of order until the new rope was installed & get it run again, so as we learn from this experience & in the future we got make sure all rope will be checked on the more regular basis.

another unfortunate incident was a blk k water pump problem, was somewhere at September, we can recall that that eventful evening when we received calls from blk k residents abt no power supply, we went to rooftop to check all the water tank, and to our shocking that all the water tank were empty, then we quickly reset the pump & let it run manually until all the tank were filled, then vendor was called immediately to attend to the problem, and the faulty component was replaced, so the problem was rectified.

of course there were some good news to celebrate too, in year2014...

the most significant one not other than the blk k lifts upgrading completion, it was finally done in first quarter of the year, it was the long process, started in year2013 and dragged until last year, we thank blk k residents for their patience, and pray & hope that with this upgrading the both lifts at blk k will serve our residents well.

another highlight of year2014 is the residents gathering, where the recorded number of 230 residents have signed up but actual number of peoples who attended this function is higher than that. It was a biggest gathering in Vista Condo, furthermore we have 2 VIP graced this occasion, YB Jagdeep Singh & YB Yeoh Soon Hin.

In year2014 we also held the AGM and more importantly we have a group of new committee joining the existing ones to serve our Vista Condo residents, the new committee indeed have brought new strength to the MC and with their contribution, we know that the Vista Condo future looks even brighter :)

last but not the least, 2 projects completed in year2014 which have help us to save cost & generate revenue, the T5 light tube which completed beginning of the year have helped us to save at least RM1200 per month on the electricity, with the return of investment in just 6 months' time. Another one is new rental parking lot, for it generates RM300 per month as 6 lot have been created & rent to residents.

here we also want to thank our beloved residents' support & cooperation in every area, particularly paying the service charge promptly & observing the house rules, in fact if without residents' support, there won't be any successful story to be told, so, really thank you so much!

pls help the flood victims

hi,

would like to urge our beloved Vista residents to give generously to the flood victims, for at the moment our nation are going the worst flood crisis in history.

for us in Penang, we are so fortunate for not experiencing those suffering the flood victims are going through right now, but from the news & photos we have seen in the media, all of us see how bad is the situation....

just quote some of the unthinkable situations which we have received from some friends from those badly affected area, run out of clean water so forced to use rain water to make milk for infants, hospital emergency ward electrical power cut but patients need oxygen tank & it can't function due to no power, many areas have no water & food supply but there's no sign of rescuer reaching them, some areas even though need help urgently but helicopter can't land there due to the flood....

believe that there are still many more other things which are worse than that... :(

after reading this, can you pls check around for those relief collection center, at the moment items like instant noodle, diaper, panadol, milk powder....etc are badly needed, but if you can't find any relief collection center then do kindly check with Malaysiakini website, they do compile a list of organization with necessary info for the relief works for the flood victims.

thanks.