Thinkproperty Blog

Extract from The Star (11/03/2010)

KUCHING: Only 68 notices affecting 10,393 titled land in the state are still in force under Section 47 of the Sarawak Land Code, which is contrary to the belief that the Government is still clinging on to many plots of land.

Land and Survey Department director Datuk Sudarsono Osman said the amount of land still under Section 47 only represented about 2% of the total titled land statewide.

There are 553,623 pieces of titled land in Sarawak.

Sudarsono said the 68 notices were the outstanding ones left after the Government released some of the notices affecting titled land in Bako and Sejingkat recently. It is said that 1,087 notices under Section 47 had been imposed since 1973.

Section 47 is a public notice that the land may be required for a public purpose. The “public purpose” could include “industrial and other infrastructural developmental needs for the common good of the citizens”.

Sudarsono said the state government had been reviewing land earmarked for acquisition under Section 47 of the Land Code every two years and land that was not required for development was released back to the owners.

He said such reviews had resulted in the release of more than 90% of total notices over the past several years.

“The Government is now reviewing some of the notices in Bintulu.

“At the moment, I can’t tell how many titles will be affected in Bintulu but we will definitely review this in some parts of Bintulu,” he told The Star.

Sudarsono also refuted claims by certain parties that Section 47 was imposed for private development or dealings.

He said the landowners whose land was subject to Section 47 could still develop them if their development plans were in tandem with the Government’s plans for the area.

Source
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/3/11/nation/5840445&sec=nation