KUCHING, May 17 — Sarawak’s Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government must proactively address the issue of delayed completion of housing projects in the state to protect the interests of house purchasers, said Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Padungan).
Chong cited the Taman Sri Kenyalang housing project at Mile 9 as a housing project that was supposed to be delivered to the purchasers by 2020 after the signing of the sales and purchase agreement a couple of years ago, but the purchasers were still waiting for the keys to their homes.
“The state Minister of Housing needs to be more proactive to protect the interests of house purchasers.
“The house purchasers are just common people who use their lifelong savings just to buy a house but after five or six years, they are still waiting for their houses to be delivered and the developers are nowhere to be found,” he said when debating the motion of thanks for the Yang di-Pertua Negeri’s address.
The state DAP chairman stressed that the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Ordinance 2013 has empowered the housing minister to take the necessary action whenever there is a ‘sick’ project or a project that was delayed for more than six months.
Raising another point, Chong called the situation faced by lorry drivers in the state as “modern slavery” as they were compelled by market forces to transport overloaded cargo.
Chong explained the drivers were forced to transport cargo exceeding the permitted weight of 10 tonnes to as much as 30 tonnes for their ‘survival’ because quarry and oil palm plantation owners, contractors and developers seemed to have ‘exploited’ their services.
“If they insist on carrying permitted load on their vehicle, these contractors, developers and quarry owners will not engage them because other lorry drivers (are willing) to carry overloaded cargo. In a way, they are compelled (to continue the illegal practice).”
The state DAP leader said the dilemma faced by lorry drivers was compounded when they were issued compounds by the enforcement agencies during roadblocks for overloading.
Thus, instead of penalising lorry drivers, Chong said developers, quarry owners and other operators should be held accountable whenever lorries were stopped for overloading.
“The state government should impose conditions on these quarry operators, oil palm companies, developers and contractors so long as these lorry drivers carry overloaded goods, the employers and the companies that engage their services should be penalised.”
On another matter, Chong said the state government should review its policies on the application for renewal of land lease particularly in the rural areas.
He said many agricultural land owners had faced difficulties in renewing their land lease at the Land and Survey Department office because more than one house was built on the piece of land.
Chong pointed out that owners sometimes inherited the piece of agricultural land from their grandparents or parents and they then sub-divided the land among their siblings, with each family constructing a house on the land.
The DAP man suggested that the conditions imposed by the Land and Survey Department on such lands be abolished in order for the lease to be renewed otherwise the owners face the risk of their land taken back by the government without compensation, which he described as ‘ridiculous’.
“I would urge and appeal to the government to have a review of this policy on the application of land lease renewal, particularly concerning agricultural land. It is unfair when a few of the co-proprietors share a parcel of agricultural land and they can only have a house built on the land.”
On a relevant matter, Chong said there were cases recently whereby ‘country land’ in the state was reclassified as ‘town land’ or ‘suburban land’, with the premium payment raised from RM200 per acre to RM5,000 per acre.
Such cases can be found in Batu Kawa, Batu Kitang and Kota Sentosa areas, he added.
Thus, he asked the government to relax the application procedure to renew the land lease besides conducting a review of the requirements for land lease renewal.
Chong also criticised the state government for delaying in the implementation of the integrated riverbank development flood mitigation project for Bandar Kuching, though a federal fund of RM150 million has been allocated to the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Sarawak in 2019. — Borneo Post
