The former Sungai Belata farm workers staged the protest in front of the office of Land and General , the parent company of the property developer contracted to build the 64 houses in 2002.

Former Sungai Belata farm workers acting committee secretary G Vijayakumar said some had died waiting for the houses.

“My father has passed away and so have many others.

“L&G should be able to build 64 houses, but why won’t they? We aren’t rich, we’re poor,” he said.

In 2002, Lembah Beringin Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of L&G, signed an agreement to build 64 low-cost houses for the former farm workers.

However, Lembah Beringin went bankrupt in 2006.

Vijayakumar said the former farm workers had made an advance payment of 10% to the developer and signed up for bank loans to pay for the houses.

L&G special project manager Abdul Hamid Md Yusof said action could not be taken against Lembah Beringin Sdn Bhd because the company had folded.

“The agreement is between buyer and seller. The developer has already gone bankrupt; what are we to do?”

However, L&G hopes to be able to offer 64 plots of land to the buyers as compensation.

“We are in the process of giving 64 plots of land (to the former workers) with the permission of the Hulu Selangor district council.

“I hope they will remain patient. They may have travelled a long way to get here this morning, but there is nothing we can do now,” Hamid said.

Former Sungai Belata farm workers acting committee chairman T Muniandy is unhappy that the developer is evading the issue.

“They should have built the houses as promised. Instead, they changed their minds and offered to give us land not long afterwards.

“We don’t want land. The land is far from the promised area. We are asking for houses in the original area,” he said.