Update on the water crisis

The water situation should be back to normal. All the storage tanks are full. This is the best indication. As for whether there would be a recurrence, I can't really tell. I told the management that the storage tanks must be checked every day. Should there be a drop in the water level, the residents should be informed immediately and water rationing should be carried out with immediate effect. Proper and accurate notice should be issued. I just hope that they have learned something from this episode.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Update on the water crisis

I have a busy day today. The regional manager and his officers from Puas came to our place to carry out an investigation on the disruption of water supply. Our water crisis has become an issue to them bacause it was extensively reported in the vernacular newspaper. I can understand the outbursts from all the residents. I was a victim myself. I also had to carry water all the way up to the 19th floor. I wish to apologize to all the residents should whatever I wrote has offended them. I also wish to offer my apology to all the residents if I have not done enough. The residents must understand that I cannot take a confrontation stand because there are many areas whereby the R.A. needs the co-operation of the management. I am also not trying to defend the management . We try our best to work together to solve the problem.

I was with the Puas people and the management people the whole morning. We checked the storage tanks and noticed that they are all full. This is an indication that the water supply is back to normal. We also checked the water pressure and found that it was at a comfortable level. The Puas people had increased the pressure a little to enable the water to flow smoothly into the storage tanks. There is nothing wrong with our system. The pumps are working well and the pipes are O.K. The water disruption was caused by a temporary drop in water pressure to our condo due to the burst pipe at Jalan Gombak. As to the reason why other condos were not affected, he could not offer us an explanation.

I posed a final question to him. I asked him whether our water crisis is officially considered as solved. He gave all of us an affirmative reply and said Yes. We can put a stop to all forms of speculation now. The important thing is our water crisis is over for now.

My next task would be the card access system that may be installed at Prima.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Water crisis

I was told by the management on Saturday that there was a burst pipe at Jalan Gombak and the water pressure was a bit low. I told the management to issue a notice which they promptly did. Some residents claimed that they were not informed which is not acceptable because for some they hardly pay attention to the notice board. I " balik kampung " on Saturday. When I came back on Sunday, I was told that the residents from Block C had been without water for the past two days.

The next day, I was told that the management had made arrangement with Puas to supply water but they didn't turn up. They only turned up yesterday when the matter became serious. I made a complaint to YB who turned up last night to show his concern for the situation we are in. He was quite unhappy with the attitude of the Puas people. At the same time the technical men from UOA were already looking into the matter. They found that the water pressure from the incoming water was very low and it could hardly reach the storage tanks. On our part, the pumps and the electrical parts are all in working condition. They called up the puas people again. The whole team turned up yesterday. They opened up the meter and they cleaned up the pipe and the pressure went up a little. Water started flowing into the storage tanks on the ground floor at the car park. The storage tanks must have a certain amount of water before it can be pumped up to the tanks above. This takes time. A notice was finally issued by the management that water would be available by 10.00 p.m.

Some residents like to make assumptions when things are not right. Talk to the right people like the property manager. She is the person in charge of Prima. The management tried their best but sometimes they do not control the destiny. The handyman and the electrician ( the two Malay guys in the blue uniforms ) spent the whole night without any sleep so that we, the residents may have water the next day. They have to control the supply so that water can be distributed equally among the three blocks. Tonight, they are on standby at Prima again. We should appreciate that. I woke up at 4.00 a.m this morning to check on the level of water at the storage tanks. I am with the management all the while to get the first hand information.

This evening, the puas people came again. This time, they brought along an instrument to measure the water pressure. They admitted that the pressure is on the low side. They claimed that they cannot increase the pressure too much because they feared that the high pressure may burst the old pipes under the ground. But, anyway they would increase the pressure to enable the water to reach our storage tanks. Hopefully, our water situation will be back to normal.

I was really disappointed with some of the residents who made vulgar and senseless comments in this blog. We are trying to solve problems here and not to point finger at anyone. Your vulgar comment only reflects the kind of upbringing you had and the kind of upbringing your children ( if any ) would get.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Card Access system for the security of Prima Setapak

There were another three break-ins at Block A at level 16 and level 11 this Tuesday. I went over to the units to take a look. I noticed that all these units are corner units. The burglars seem to be targetting the corner units. The corner units are located at the staircases. The burglars chose the corner units for obvious reason, easy escape.

I had the opportunity to meet Janice, the property manager from Dats Management this morning. We had a very fruitful discussion. I highlighted the security matter to her. I told her that these break-ins is a cause for concern and it is increasing at an alarming rate. I was told that they are going to adopt some of the measures recommended by the R.A. This is only an interim measure to prevent the break-ins.

For long term measure, she is going to propose to us to use the card access system as shown in the pictures above. This system has being installed at Plaza Prima and Midah Heights which are properties developed by UOA. This system is also commonly used in the office . I think this is a very good security system. The cost incurred is not very high. CCTV cannot prevent tresspassers from using the lifts but the card access system can because you need a card to enter the lift lobbies. All the lift lobbies on the ground floors will be sealed with tempered glasses. All the staircases will be sealed too. All the visitors will need to register at the guardhouse before they are allowed to enter the lift lobbies. I am strongly in favour of this system. I told her to get the paper work done as soon as possible. I shall discuss it with my committee and if necessary, the R.A. would organize a dialogue session with the residents to discuss the matter.
I welcome any constructive comments from the residents.

Goodnight and have a nice day.

Another break-in

Another break-in occured at Block B. It happened today. I received a call from the owner at about 4.00 p.m. today. I went over to the place to take a look. Some money and jewellery were stolen. The same procedure was used to break into the unit at level 20 . They just cut the ear-lope which is quite thin.

One preventive measure which I would like to suggest to prevent future break-in is to lock the two steel bar with a big lock as shown in picture 1 on the top. I use the same lock for my house. I really don't know whether it is fool-proof or not but none of the burglars had cut the locks to gain entry into the house so far. They usually cut the ear-lope or break it loose as shown in picture no 3.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Update on the CCTV and security

I would like to refer to the picture above. That is our guardhouse. It looks like it is not manned at all. Believe me, if I am a visitor, I would just walk through the guardhouse without a second thought because the atmosphere at the guardhouse gives me an impression that I would not be stopped or questioned. The guardhouse is so calm that it is hardly a deterrent to tresspassers. The R.A. had highlighted the weaknesses to the security company. Please refer to my previous blog for more information.

On CCTV, the R.A's proposal for the installation of cctv had been accepted by Dats Management Sdn Bhd. We were actually given the heavy responsibility of appointing the company to carry out the project. This is actually one way of telling you, you get what you want but you are also responsible for the system to be installed.

After an intensive study, we had to defer our decision due to the high cost incurred and the manpower required to maintain the system. Twelve T.V. monitors are required to accommodate 280 cameras. There will be 16 frames of pictures in each monitor. Imagine the number of extra guards required to monitor the system. This will definitely increase the operating expenditure which may give rise to an increase in the maintenance fees which the R.A. will try to avoid at all cost.

As I had said in my previous blog, the security at the guardhouse has to be tightened first or else it would also defeat the purpose of installing the cctv.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Recommendations made to the chief of security of UOA

We had a fruitful discussion with the chief of security of UOA. We explained to him that the lax security at the guardhouse was one of the causes of the break-ins. Furthermore, despite all the break-ins, there was no effort at all to introduce some new measures to tighten the security at the guardhouse. From day one until now, nothing has changed at the guardhouse. They must take some measures to tighten the security at the guardhouse bacause that is the point of entry for Prima. The intruders must have come in through the guardhouse without being detected. After a short discussion, we proceeded to the guardhouse. I pointed out to him that the guards at guardhouse are not paying attention to the walk-in visitors at all. They are busy tending to the visitors in the cars . The fact that they are in the guardhouse all the time is hardly a deterance to someone who wants to enter to commit a crime. They should not make it convenient for tresspassers to enter .

In view of the weaknesses above, we introduced a few procedures for the security to consider. One of which is all the visitors with cars must be directed to the visitors' parking lots . The driver and his passengers would have to come out of their car and proceed to the guardhouse to register themselves. With this procedure, the guards would know the identity of all the occupants in the car and it would also ease the traffic congestion at the guardhouse. If the visitors' parking lots are full, they have to park outside. It's not our responsibility to provide a parking lot for every visitor. With this procedure, the visitors might be inconvenienced a little. But, as I had said in my previous blog, our priority is not the visitors but the safety of all the residents.

The guards must register the walk-in visitors. The right side of the guardhouse will be blocked. Only the left side of the guardhouse will be used as an entry and exit point for the residents. Two guards would be stationed outside the guardhouse at all time to keep an eye on the walk-in crowd and to register the visitors with cars.

We also recommended to the security to open the backdoor for the residents from block C and B to go out for their dinner. The backdoor would be opened at dinner time only. The residents must also display their resident passes before they are allowed to come in through the backdoor. Our main purpose of opening the backdoor at dinner time is to ease the human congestion at the guardhouse at that hour. With this move, we hope that it may enable the guards to monitor the walk-in crowds better.

The R.A. does not have the authority to tell the guards what to do. We have done our part by offering our views to them. We just hope that they would consider some of the recommendations that we made.

Goodnight and have a nice day!

Another break-in

Another break-in occured at Block B in July. The break-in occured at the time when there was a lady in the house. The lady was alone. Fortunately, no harm was done to the lady. The lady must have been badly traumatized by the incident. How did the burglar manage to get into Prima so easily? An inside job could be ruled out as the burglar is an Indian. The description of the burglar did not fit any of the residents here.

What went wrong? My guess must be the lax security at the guardhouse. I took quite sometime to observe the situation at the guardhouse. I discovered that the procedures that they practised are not effective at all in preventing outsiders from coming in. The guards hardly pay any attention to the walk-in visitors. Anybody can walk into Prima without being questioned or stopped. I have never seen any of the guards asking the residents for their resident passes. Maybe, they are too shy to ask or they are worried that the residents would be offended. The visitors with cars can just drive in after collecting the visitor's pass. Sad to mention that Prima is perceived as a public property. I would like to stress that our priority is not the visitors but the safety of the residents. The visitors have no rights to complain if they have been inconvenienced. They are only visiting, they don't reside here.

The R.A. would be having another meeting with the chief of security from UOA. We shall be recommending some new procedures to the security for their consideration. We just hope the security would accept some of our recommendations which would tighten the security at the guardhouse.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Issue on Strata-titles

I received a reply from the developer pertaining to my inquiry into the status of the application for strata titles. I should thank the developer for a speedy reply. More often than not, developers would not like to entertain the Residents Associations. Usually, Residents Associations are perceived as trouble makers. But, I think UOA is an exception. I am satisfied with the explanation given. The developer did make an effort to apply for the titles. The delay was caused by the caveats lodged by the financiers and the Bahagian Pinjaman Perumahan. I shall put up the letter on the notice board for all to read.