Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin
KINABATANGAN: The state government should immediately solve the issue of land titles in this area which has caused difficulties for small planters to receive government assistance or making loans.
Kinabatangan member of parliament Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin said land title issues should be noted by the state government to solve people’s problems, particularly in ensuring problems faced by smallholders be resolved.
“I hope the Chief Minister will immediately approve the land title grants to help residents,” he told reporters after a special dialogue session between local small planters in Kinabatangan district and the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin at Dewan Sri Lamag, yesterday.
He added that among the problems faced by residents are they were unable to develop the land as they have not received grants.
“Smallholders also failed to make loans from the banks due to lack of land titles,” he said adding that this was a loss to the land owners.
Bung Mokhtar hoped that the land title issues could be resolved before the next election by at least 50 per cent.
He said the issue of land titles has lasted a long time and an immediate action should be taken to help people and overcome this land issue.
“I have received many complaints from people in this area on the issue of land grants which had made futile their efforts to develop their own land,” he said.
Bung Mokhtar said they also suffered losses of assistance provided by the government where the application process requires that the applicant has a grant of land.
Meanwhile, he assured the people of Kinabatangan that the government will intensify their effort so overcome the issue as the government had also solved 200 lots of land which overlapped in this area, recently.