New Swimming Pool Furniture

We have replaced all the old swimming pool furniture with these new ones. The new umbrellas will be arriving in the next few days. These new furniture gives our pool a fresh look to usher in the new year - 2012. Happy new year everyone!

Merry Christmas

Why Ceramic Tile Floor Pop Up

Recently, a resident complained that part of his floor tiles have cracked and pop up. It's frightening when the tiles started to pop up suddenly and the loud cracking sound it made. In the tile business, this is called "tenting." It's called so because two rows of tiles pitched together to form a peak.

Tile specialist websites stated that there are several reasons but the main reason for tenting is the lack of 'movement accommodation'. All matters and substance expand or contract with the changes in temperature. And different material has different rate of expansion and contraction. In this case, the concrete floor have a higher degree of expansion (and contraction) than the ceramic tiles.

Tiles laid too closely together will, sooner or later, pop up. Skilled tile setters will leave a gap between tiles, enough to accommodate these movements to avoid tenting. Employing 'soft joints' at specific intervals for a larger area helps to divide-up the area and lessen the effects of the movement. If properly done, ceramic tile flooring can last forever.

Council Members 2011/2012

We had our 5th Annual General Meeting yesterday and we have duly elected 12 committees for the new term.

1. Robert Teh
2. Steven Lim
3. Jen Leong
4. Zalita
5. Richard Wong
6. James Tan
7. Steven Cheong
8. Alan
9. Daniel Ling
10. Sunny Shee
11. Zainah
12. V.J. Kumar

5th Annual General Meeting

Being no quorum on the actual date, the AGM is adjourned to the following Sunday which is the 4th December, 2011.
Rule 11(2) Second Schedule of the Strata Titles Act, 1985:
"and if at the adjourned meeting a quorum is not present within half an hour after the time appointed for the meeting, those present within half an hour after the time appointed for the meeting, those persons entitled to vote who are present shall constitute a quorum."


Date: Sunday, 27th November, 2011
Time: 2 P.M.
Venue: Multi-Purpose Hall

Please be punctual for the meeting as your presence is required to achieve the requisite quorum to enable the meeting to proceed in accordance with the Rule 11 Second Schedule of the Strata Titles Act, 1985.

Agenda of the AGM is posted on the PDC Forum.

NAZA KL Metropolis

By Lee Wei Lian
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — The prime minister said today that he wanted Naza TTDI, the developer of 75.5 acres of Matrade land in the upscale Duta area here to ensure that the development will help propel KL to world class status.

Naza TTDI was awarded the prime land in exchange for constructing a new Matrade convention centre, but the deal had sparked controversy in 2009 as it was decided without a competitive open tender.

“I want a commitment from Naza TTDI to ensure that KL Metropolis will play an important role in fulfilling the government’s aspiration, that Greater KL will be a generator of economic activity in addition to realising the vision of making KL a world class city,” said Najib in his speech that was delivered by Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed at the launch of the project, called KL Metropolis.

Following the controversy in 2009, the government had maintained  that it is getting a gooddeal in allowing Naza to build the convention centre in exchange for the development of 75 acres of prime land.

Naza said today that the US firm of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill was selected following a competition to come up with the masterplan as they were the architects behind London’s Canary Wharf , Singapore’s Marina Bay and Dubai’s Burj al-Khalifa.

KL Metropolis has a gross development value (GDV) of RM15 billion and comprises 22 office, residential and hotel towers, one landmark tower possibly reaching 100 storeys, two retail centres and an exhibition centre.

It will supposedly be served by the ampang LRT line and the MRT Circle Line as well as various highways and tunnels.

The various buildings in the development will be designed to meet Green Building Index and Leed for Neighbourhood Development certifications and be linked with multi-tiered pedestrian walkways.

The new Matrade convention centre at the KL Metropolis will triple KL’s current convention capacity as it will add about 100,000 sq meters of space upon completion in 2014.

Mustapa said that KL currently lagged other regional rivals in terms of quality convention space.

He noted that KL only had 56,000 sq meters of covered convention space currently as compared with Guangzhou which has 260,000 sq meters, Singapore which has 250,000 sq meters and Bangkok which has 225,000 sq meters.

KL Metropolis is expected to be fully built out by 2025.

The first phase comprises the convention centre, two residential towers, two hotels, two office towers and one regional retail centre to be completed by 2015.

Naza TTDI chairman SM Nasarudin SM Nasimuddin said that they were currently in talks with various local and international investors and were exploring various financial instruments to fund the project.

Naza TTDI managing director SM Faliq SM Nasimuddin said that the height of the iconic tower could reach 100 storeys depending on prevailing market conditions.

KL Metropolis Website

Happy Deepavali

Happy Merdeka-Raya

Tai Chi Chuan By Master Yeap

There will be a Tai Chi Chuan demo and Q&A session at the tennis court on 22/8/2011, Monday at 9 PM by Master Yeap. Sifu Yeap Eit Keung has over 30 years experience in teaching Tai Chi (since 1976) both overseas and locally. (More here)

New Tai Chi Chuan class to commence on 
5th September,2011, Monday
Time: 9 PM
Venue: Tennis court

Following classes will be held on each Monday at 9 PM.

New Main Entrance and Guardhouse

Our new guardhouse is now completed. The main entrance now has two car lanes for ingress and one car lane for egress. There is also a new pedestrian walkway gate for better security control. Residents should always carry their Resident Card for security checking when exiting and entering by the pedestrian walkway. Visitors are to be registered at the guardhouse before they are allowed to enter. Visitors' cars are to use only the visitor lane and register before entry.

New Access Card

The Management has changed the access system at the main entrance. All residents are required to replace their old access card with the new access card before 30/6/2011. After the dateline, residents without the new access card will be required to registered at the guard house before entry. The access card replacement is free of charge.

Please click here to check the extended management office operating hours for your convenience.

TIME Fibre Broadband and Astro B.yond IPTV @ Prima Duta Condo

TIME Fibre Broadband is a broadband internet product offered by TIME dotCom Berhad in Malaysia. According to a Sundaily.com article, this new service will be the country’s first and only broadband internet service that is capable of offering access speeds up to 50Mbps (Megabits per second), making it the fastest service in the country that is provided directly to residential areas. (Wikipedia)

Astro's strategic collaboration with TIME dotCom Berhad (TIME) to deliver B.yond IPTV since December 2010 brings an unparalleled multiplay of Astro channels in HD (High-Definition) with Personal Video Recording (PVR) and VOD (Video-on-Demand) services delivered via TIME's 100% fibre broadband offering the fastest internet speed in the country with voice at the best value to Malaysian homes. (Adoimagazine.com)

Now it's available in Prima Duta Condo!

There will be a registration booth at the cafeteria area for those who are interested. Please wait for further notice.

Underground Pipe Burst

There's a underground pipe burst at the road before the Multi-purpose Hall. Tenders from three companies were received and the work has been awarded. Work is now in progress to repair the burst pipe.

Inspection Of The New Water Piping

On Saturday morning (2/4/2011), a few council members namely Steven Lim, Richard Wong, Paul Chen, Zainah, me and the manager, Dashan went to inspect the new water piping system in all the blocks. The inspection ended at 4 PM.

Steven Lim explaining about the new piping system.

Paul Chen checking the water tank.

Council members inspecting the new water meters arrangement as required by Syabas.

New drainage system in case of burst pipe so that water won't get into the lift shaft.

Answers To The Petition Letter

A petition letter dated 14/2/2011 was typed and signed by 24 proprietors alleging awarding projects at higher prices, poor performance of the security company and improper use of the sinking fund. I would like to present here the answers to the petition letter by the 24.

Q. We heard the amount to build the entrance gate and guard house cost was around RM160, 000. We think it is exorbitant and expensive. The tender was rewarded to the particular company even they came late on the date the tender closed.

A. The Main Entrance Upgrade project was proposed and presented in the 2009 AGM with the proposed designed and an estimated budget. There being no objection from the parcel owners in the 2009 AGM, the 2010 council proceeded with this project.

The contractor of the main entrance upgrade project was selected accordingly  to a laid down selection criteria/process and definitely met all conditions of the RFP including submission before the closing date. The selection committee consist of the below council members

1. Robert Teh
2. Steven Lim
3. Darshan 

The proposed contractor and the justification on the selection is then circulated for the rest of the council members endorsement/vote.

The details of the tender will be included in the hardcopy circulated to all the owners.

Q. As promised and notice given earlier, the renovation of the guard house should finish on 20/1/11 but it seem it is extended to another 1 month to fully complete. What is the reason and why isn't management taking action?

A. The project was delayed due to the below reasons.

• Additional days spent to modify the drainage system across the driveway, and the roofing structure as requested by our architect. 
• During the period, there were many days where the contractor have to suspend work due to heavy rain.
• The long period of rest during the CNY that is normal for contractors

There is no necessity to take any action as the main construction have been completed and the residents are now benefiting from a dedicated resident lane as against previously and walk in access have also been enhanced.

Q. We don't understand why the proximity card system at the entrance gate doesn't work anymore. As we remembered it could be used at long range but it doesn't now. Why is it takes so long for the contractor or the company to fix it?

A. The proximity card system is still working but have deteriorated to a state where sometimes you have to touch the reader for it to work. Again its a conscious decision to delay the replacement or upgrade of the system pending the completion of the key construction work of the main entrance.

The due process have been carried out and the council have endorsed an upgrade approach in the Feb11 council meeting. We have to approach the principal in recommending a replacement distributor as the current distributor have not been very service inclined. Unfortunately, there is no stock for the replacement readers, and we have to bear with the inconvenience for approximately another 3 weeks for the replacement.  In the meantime, the manufacturer has carried out improvements to the control wiring and other components.

Q. The lift facelift is not user friendly and does not look exclusive. We would like the management and committee to consider changing the colour to other tone that look exclusive and modern.

A. The unhappiness on the colour selection of the refurbished lifts have been duly noted. We have proposed alternative colour for selection and planning for replacement ASAP. Do note that the colour selection was a collective decision and before installation it looks okay. That is the reason why we installed only 2 out of the 8 lift cars. Then again we also do have positive comments on the colour selection which is a very subjective.

Q. We would like to know why changing of the water meter cost RM95 whereas some other company is willing to charge at RM 35 per unit.

A. The initial agreed cost per unit for the water meter manifold change is RM90.00.  The job includes additional piping, valves & fittings, and there was no alternative quote received for RM35 which would not be able to cover even the material costs.. The water meters before had been installed upside down and JBA has reverted that they will not read the meters if it continues to be upside down. The conversion to individual water meter will also reclassify us to a lower water rate. As we were in the midst of the water pipe project, the cost was further negotiated down to RM60.00 per unit. 

Q. We would also suggest that the minute of the monthly council meeting to be extended to all owners to keep us updated preferably via email to ascertain transparency of the management and committee carrying out their duties and responsibilities since we feel that improper use of the sinking fund lately.

A. The council do not agree to the suggesting of providing the minutes in whatever form to the residents. If any parcel owners are sincerely interested to contribute their valuable time and constructive ideas, please volunteer yourself to any of the Conveners whose name have been duly posted on the main notice board after the 2010 AGM.

Q. We suggest the management and committee to consider and to take action more on how to make our premise safer just like the other modern condos e.g. glass door at lift lobbies.

A. The idea of installing the glass doors at the various lobbies have been deliberated many times in our council meeting. The council have collectively agreed to forward the security needs progressively. The CCTV installation & the main entrance upgrade are the 1st 2 steps. Installing the glass doors will be costly and will create other issue for some residents. 

Q. Management and committee should consider upgrading the lift lobbies as priorities because these areas look dirty and old with marks on the wall and dirty tiles.

A. Upgrading the lift lobbies are being considered. 

Q. Previously there is a poll with regards to the old showroom, most of us voted that the showroom be converted to a bigger gym or nursery but nothing is done up until today.

A. We have only recently gotten the clearance that the show house has a valid CF. The cost of renovation and purchase of gym equipment will be costly. If we confine the nursery to use for only resident, it may not be cost effective. If we open it to outsiders, there will be other challenges like security and higher operating cost. The council have also deliberated this in detail, and the committee in charge will provide detail costs for presenting to the community. 

Q. We heard that visitors who park the car from 12midnight to 10AM the next day will be charged RM15 per day. We object to this idea because it is part of the facilities we get purchasing the property here.

A. The proposed parking charges for overnight visitor parking was discussed but not implemented. Do note that there are residents who are abusing the facilities by parking at the visitor bay, thus depriving genuine visitors the opportunity to do so. 

Q. As for the security personal, they are the worst that we had hired.

A. The performance of all vendors are continuously monitored inclusive of the current security firm. Please be advised to report any non performance to the management office. In fact the council will be very glad if anyone can volunteer to support our Security Convener to monitor the performance of the security company and provide the necessary report/recommendation to the council.

Key to the Bomba Riser Room

With reference to the above subject matter, please be informed that the Management Office have changed the locks of the Bomba Riser for all Blocks and Floors due to “wear & tear” and security reasons.

We have placed the new key inside the Fire Break Glass housing, located next to the Bomba Riser Door. In the event of a fire, kindly proceed to break the glass and open the Bomba Riser Door with the key.

Breaking the Fire Break Glass will also trigger the Fire Alarm System in our premises.

Above is a photo of the key placed.

The Management 

9^th March 2011

Disruption in Power Supply

Please be informed that our in-house Electrical Contractor will be Calibrating and Servicing the Main Switchboard at the Main Switch Room as follows:-

Date    : 28/02/2011 (Monday)

Time    : 10.00 am to 3.00pm

During the above time, there will be power disruption to all units. The Bomba Lift will be functioning as usual.

Your co-operation on the above matter is much appreciated. We regret for any inconvenience caused.

  

The Management 

24/2/11

Gong Xi Fa Cai

New Lift Interior at Block A and Block B

Winner of Plural + 2010 Paley Centre Media Education Award, New York