KUALA LUMPUR: After 16 years of waiting, residents of Kampung Railway in Sentul are not about to give in. They want the developer to honour its promises.

Azmi Harun, a resident since 1985, said a promise is still a promise and developer YTL Land & Development Bhd should honour it, no matter what.

"We will fight till the end to get what's ours! It's not going to be easy for them to remove us.

"People are angry because they're not keeping their word and now they're telling us to move!"

Another resident, Paramasivam Muthusamy, 50, said he was frustrated with the waiting game and demanded YTL finishes what it started.

"For 16 years, we have been waiting. We just want what's ours."

Although YTL offered each resident a new house in Puchong, both Azmi and Paramasivam think it is still not worth the inconvenience.

A YTL spokesperson said no formal agreement had been signed by both parties to show that any promise had been made.

"YTL took over the project from Sentul Raya Sdn Bhd (SRSB) in 1997. Whatever agreement they had with Sentul Raya was solely between them and the former developer."

She said the "agreement" they had was just a letter.

"No formal agreement was made. Therefore, we didn't promise them anything."

YTL is facing difficulties in starting construction work since the site is occupied by squatters.

"KTMB and SRSB have taken numerous measures to ensure that the welfare and interest of the affected families are looked into, including giving ample notices, dialogues and briefings, extending the moving-out deadline at the request of these families, assisting the affected families with their applications to Kuala Lumpur City Hall for new low-cost homes, which have been approved, and the provision of a relocation gratuity.

"We have helped them by paying the electricity, water bills as well as the rental of their new houses when we can just take the land without aiding them as the the land they are squatting on is not even the land they claimed to be in the agreement in the first place."

The spokesperson said as part of their ongoing efforts to redevelop and regenerate Sentul, KTMB had over the years worked towards the development of the area comprising low and medium-cost apartments to be constructed on Lot PT16 to house KTMB employees and their families.

To date, 41 families have moved into their new homes in PPR Kampung Muhibbah, Puchong, while another 18 families have found houses on their own.