Stop hill cutting or face action
Published on: Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Kota Kinabalu: The Land and Survey Department has advised the owner of 12 Country Lease (CL) titled land at Kg Togudon in Penampang, who are currently doing hill cutting there, to stop the activity or face action.Its Director Datuk Osman Jamal said the department's investigations made following a complaint, which was also published in the Daily Express on Monday, showed that the owner concerned does not have an approval to carry out hill-cutting. He said the department's record shows the landowner had never submitted an application to carry out hill cutting to the department for approval and thus the department had never issued any approval for the activity.
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"Our check showed there is a hill-cutting activity involving the 12 CL titled land area. But the department has never issued an approval to the landowner to carry out the said activity, so I advise the landowner to so do immediately or face legal action," he said when met at his office in Wisma Tanah and Ukur, here Tuesday. Osman said the department, through the Penampang Land and Survey Office, will issue a stop work order to the landowner today (Wednesday).He said if the landowner fails to comply, action would be taken against him under the State Land Ordinance.
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On the issue of a quarry project at Kg Notoruss in Babagon, Osman explained that actually until today there is no quarry activity at the said site but only land clearing activity. This was based on an inspection conducted by the Penampang Land and Survey Office at the said site on Aug 17.
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He said the State authority had actually given approval on Jan 18, 2010 for a quarry project by a private company to be carried out at the said land (involving six Native Title and two CL Title lands). The approval was given for the said project to operate for five years from Jan 1, 2010, to Dec 31, 2014, he said, adding the quarry licence had been issued on Feb 8, 2010. "The environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the said quarry project had also been approved by the State Environment Protection Department on March 5, 2009," he said. Based on all these, he said, the department finds no reason for it to stop the project from being implemented. On the reported hill-cutting activity at Kampung Kibabaig in Penampang, Osman said inspection conducted at the site early Tuesday found there is no more such activity going on.Earth debris from the previous hill-cutting activity had especially during rainy days washed down, affecting the land area where the SPCA Centre is located. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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