squatters on govt land need to get approval
Published on: Thursday, December 06, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: District Officer, Sungkim Rumangun , said no one is allowed to stay on and build a house on government reserve land belonging to any department or agency without approval from the department and agency concerned. He said this in response to a separate findings at government reserve lands belonging to the State Railway Department (JKNS) and Public Work Department (PWD) here during an integrated operation with the police, Fire and Rescue Department, Civil Defence Corp, Immigration and villagers. Tenom Parliamentary Liaison Officer, Apiang Sauson, and Melalap Community Development Officer, Francis, among others, were also involved in the checks at Kg Pagansangon and Kg Pulong.
ADVERTISEMENT
At Kg Pagansangon, they discovered slightly more than 100 people have built homes illegally in a JKNS's reserve land there. The squatters claimed to have been given approval by a JKNS officer but none of them were able to show any letter from JKNS when asked to do so. Sungkim said he will write a letter to JKNS to verify on the status of the people concerned because their claims that they have been given approval seems to be just a verbal answer.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We have told the people concerned that all dwelling structures that have been illegally erected there will be removed and the land must be vacated within 14 days if JKNS did not approve them living there," he said when met by reporters at his office. Sungkim said most of the "settlers" are locals who were mostly former workers of a plantation nearby but have since retired.
ADVERTISEMENT
Some among them are local women but married to foreigners. He said the presence of these people have created unease not only among the Kg Pagansangon villagers but also those at Kg Pulong and Kg Kasiai. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
