Awang Tengah (front, left) presents the perpetuity land title certificate to 80-year-old Kutar Daud.
LAWAS: The clock is ticking for the eligible land owners, who have yet to submit their land premium refund applications to the Land and Survey Department, under the resettlement or village extension programme.
“For those who have not done so, they should hurry as the deadline (for the refund initiative) is on Oct 31 this year,” said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan at the earth-breaking ceremony yesterday for the 13.6-hectare Kampung Sundar extension scheme project and the presentation of perpetuity land titles to 135 out of 176 residents along Jalan Punang here.
According to him, the land premium refund programme is among the people-friendly initiatives undertaken by the Sarawak government over the years.
The fifth chief minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem had improved the policy by shifting the burden of bearing the development costs to the Land and Survey Department, to include earth-filling works and amenities.
Previously, such costs were borne by land owners under the extension programme.
It was among the people-oriented policies initiated by Adenan prior to his death in 2017.
The present Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg had gone a step further by capping the payable land premium amount at RM 2,500, which could be paid in instalments over 10 years; those who had paid more could seek refunds from the Land and Survey Department.
In this regard, Awang Tengah who is also the Second Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources, said Sarawakians were ‘very fortunate’ to have a people-centric state government.
“Like this Kampung Sundar expansion project, the government’s spending on development was between RM100,000 and RM120,000 per lot, and the participating land owner would only have to pay RM2,500 in land premium.
“That’s almost free – you can’t find this in any other state in the country,” he said.
Awang Tengah later presented the perpetuity land titles, issued under Section 18 of the Land Code, to 135 recipients from the Malay, Kedayan and Lun Bawang communities.
Earlier in his speech, Limbang Division Land and Survey Department superintendent Awang Nazri Awang Saperi said the folk of Limbang and Lawas were very fortunate in that they got to benefit from the pro-active leadership of the deputy chief minister and also from the programmes undertaken by the Sarawak government.
“(The people in) Sundar are fortunate to enjoy such heavily-subsidised lots issued to the eligible recipients in an area earmarked for economic development, next to the Rimbunan Kasih project,” he said.
Moreover, he attributed the launch of the RM5.74-million project under this phase, offering 79 lots with sizes ranging from 14 to 19 points, to Awang Tengah’s leadership and also to the Sarawak government.
Also present at the function were Lawas MP Datuk Henry Sum Agong, Batu Danau assemblyman Paulus Palu Gumbang, Limbang Resident Ahmad Denney Ahmad Fauzi, Limbang District Officer Superi Awang Said, Lawas District Officer Ladin Atok, and Land and Survey Department deputy director (management) Abdullah Julaihi.