THE Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN) State Government will continue to develop Sabah, including rural areas, through the Hala Tuju Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) Development Plan, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Haji Noor.
He said the State Government did not want districts far from Kota Kinabalu to be backward, because rural communities in those districts also had the right to enjoy development and benefits as a result of the country’s independence.
“This is what the GRS-BN Government is doing because for us what is important is that the people get to enjoy development and basic facilities that they should benefit,” he said, when officiating the Tongod Kaamatan Festival and groundbreaking ceremony for the Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (LPPB) Commercial Project at the Dataran Rakyat Tongod Open Hall, Tongod, on May 15.
“This was our intention when we took over the State Government in September 2020.
“The GRS-BN Government is also very committed to resolving the land ownership issue in the State and handed over 611 land titles covering 3,893 acres to applicants from Tongod district,” he said.
Of the total, he said 238 are native land titles (NT) from ordinary land applications, while 373 NT lands are from the Sabah Native Land Services Programme (Pantas).
“On May 12, I handed over 206 NT land titles to applicants in Pitas and on Saturday (May 14) I handed over 181 titles in Telupid district.
“The State Government through the Lands and Surveys Department (JTU) will always work hard to carefully evaluate all land applications submitted by the people. If an application does not have any problem, there is no reason why the issuance of a title for the land in question cannot be implemented,” said Hajiji.
He urged all land title recipients to cultivate their land as it can increase their income. If possible, he said, work with any relevant government agency to cultivate the land with various types of crops including oil palm.
“Based on the Import Export Statistics by State for March 2022 report released recently, Malaysia’s palm oil exports amounted to RM7.5 billion, with Sabah recording the highest figure of RM1.8 billion or 23.5 per cent.
“Therefore, I advise the NT land recipients to toil the land and not to take short cut to make a profit by selling it,” said Hajiji, who also handed over the gazette for 49.3-acre native village land of Kampung Sanan in Tongod, which was gazetted on Oct 21, 2021.
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