JUDGMENT

Chong Siew Fai CJ (Sabah & Sarawak):

Introduction

This is an appeal by Newacres Sdn Bhd ("the developer") against the decision of the Court of Appeal entering judgment against them for Sri Alam Sdn Bhd ("the landowner") in a number of reliefs to which I shall allude in greater detail in the later part of this judgment. Owing to the complexity of the case, (the memorandum of appeal alone contained 38 grounds) the arguments before this court spanned intermittently over about 13 days, at the conclusion of which, judgment was reserved to a date to be fixed. I now give my judgment.

Background Facts

The facts heralding the dispute between the parties herein may be thus stated. In 1975, the landowner, though not a licensed developer, was desirous of developing its newly acquired 584 acres (approximately) of land into a residential estate cum commercial centre. To that end, they started selling unsubdivided empty lots to about 2100 purchasers with an undertaking to construct residential and other buildings on the said lots.

For brevity, suffice it that the landowner ran into serious financial problems necessitating a rescue plan to salvage the project. This resulted in a joint ven