KOTA KINABALU: Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang has assured property developers that the state government currently has no policy to freeze the conversion of Native Title (NT) land to Country Lease (CL) status.
“As long as property developers follow the procedures and comply with all the required terms and conditions, they can still apply (to convert NT land to CL).
“I personally think that we should not have this restriction as it will affect our property development industry,” Teo said after meeting Sabah Housing and Property Developers Association (Shareda) committee members led by its president Francis Goh Fah Sun here, yesterday.
At the same time, Teo opined that freezing the conversion of NT to CL titles would impact on the price of residential properties, particularly when available lands are scarce nowadays.
He said the restriction was contrary to the government’s effort in encouraging the construction of more affordable homes.
On another note, Teo applauded Shareda’s commitment in building 10,000 units of affordable homes as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Teo believed that the banking industry in Sabah should play its role to allow more first time buyers to own a home.
“We can build a lot of affordable homes but if the requirements for housing loans are too stringent, all these efforts would be in vain.”
Also present at the courtesy call were Shareda deputy president Chew Sang Hai, vice president Dato’ Ir John Chee Shi Tong, treasurer-general Wesley Chai, council members Sr Chua Soon Ping and Ar Ronnie Ang.