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SIBU – Allegations by certain quarters that the land measurements done under Section 6 of the State Land Code is a way for the Sarawak government to seize native customary rights (NCR) land have hindered the NCR Land Survey Programme’s progress, said Sibu Land and Survey Department superintendent Mohamad Muazziz Othman.
He said efforts to provide information were carried out through dialogue sessions with landowners on a continuous basis to dispel such allegations.
“Although it is difficult to stop the baseless allegations that are spread on social media, efforts to provide real information will be done continuously so that the NCR Land Survey Programme which began in 2010 can be implemented,” he said during a ceremony to hand over compensation cheques and other land-related matters here today.
Perimeter survey and gazetting under Section 6 of the State Land Code is the first stage under the programme that recognises NCR lands as Bumiputera Communal Reserves (Agriculture) before individual lots are measured and land titles issued under Section 18.
He said the measurement of individual lots also posed various challenges, especially in terms of getting the cooperation of landowners.
“Among the challenges is the inability of NCR landowners to carry out preliminary work to determine the boundaries of their land due to old age.
“There are also landowners who were not present during the boundary determination process, causing overlap and leading to disputes among landowners, and this puts a halt to the survey efforts,” he said.
The ceremony was launched by Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan who was represented by Deputy Town Planning, Town Administration, Land Administration and Environment Minister Datuk Len Talif Salleh.
Awang Tengah in a speech read by Len said that as of February this year, the Sarawak Land and Survey Department had managed to survey the perimeter of 1,023,292ha of NCR land throughout Sarawak, and of the total, 793,831ha had been gazetted.
“A total of 52,711 individual lots have been successfully surveyed involving an area of 64,796 hectares, for the issuance of land titles under Section 18 of the State Land Code,” he said. – Bernama, March 10, 2022