MIRI: Eighteen families have been given the nod to resettle at a site in Tudan here, on condition that they must abolish their old squatter units.
Of the 18, six are from the Miri Army Camp, eight are those affected by the landslide at Kampung Haji Wahed, while four are the ones whose houses were razed during a recent fire in Kuala Baram.
The families received the offer letters from the Land and Survey Department to occupy land lots in Tudan here yesterday.
However, Land and Survey divisional enforcement chief Yunus Tambi told the families that the letters were only meant to inform them about the offer.
“This is just an offer letter. You will only be given a TOL (temporary occupation licence) once you build your house on the given lot and demolish your old squatter units,” he told recipients at a simple ceremony here, where Assistant Minister of Communications Datuk Lee Kim Shin was on hand to present the letters.
Lee, also Senadin assemblyman, reminded the recipients to comply with the regulations stated under the requirements for the TOL.
“The reason that these TOLs would only be given once the new houses are built on the given lots and their old ones demolished, is to ensure that the recipients would move into the new resettlement accordingly.
“There have been cases where recipients still occupied their old squatter units despite having been allocated with new lots on which they built houses and rented them out to other people.
“Another case is they did move into the new resettlement but still kep their squatter units to be rented out. This is wrong,”
he said, warning those against such exercise because if caught and proven guilty, they would lose the lots originally allocated for them.
“Once you receive the TOLs, you must renew it annually at only RM15 (per TOL) a year,” he said, adding that the fee was much cheaper than grants, whose rates were based on the size of the land.
The presentation of the letters was witnessed by SUPP secretary general Datuk Sebastian Ting and Councillor Kueh Chie Tiong.