Priority to granting Native Title land
Published on: Wednesday, May 24, 2023
By: Ricardo Unto
“The State Government will continue implementing various initiatives to strengthen the land administration system in the State to be more efficient in line with the goals and directions in the SMJ Development Plan,” Juhar said. - Bernama pic
Kota Kinabalu: THE State Government will continue prioritising the granting of native land and the gazetting of reserve land for native villages, said Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin.“Last year, the State Government completed the measurement of 7,531 native land lots with a total area of 16,593.20 hectares,” he said in the Government Policy Speech during the opening of the State Legislative Assembly sitting, here, Monday.ADVERTISEMENT
“It gazetted 76 native village reserve lands under Section 8, Sabah Land Ordinance, with an area of 1,335.47 hectares.”
This year, the State Government aims to measure at least 7,500 native land lots with an area of 15,000 hectares and gazette 75 areas as native village reserves.
“The State Government will continue implementing various initiatives to strengthen the land administration system in the State to be more efficient in line with the goals and directions in the SMJ Development Plan,” he said.
In 2022, the State Government developed a digital database for underground utilities such as telecommunications cables, water pipes and sewerage channels.ADVERTISEMENT
“This will facilitate the acquisition of underground utility information for planning and land development purposes.
“In addition, online applications such as e-LandDev, which allows the exchange of land use conditions and the extension of the lease period, and e-Land Inquiry, which helps land investigation applications to be made online, have been improved to provide more efficient services to land owners.”
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Meanwhile, the State Government is committed to continuing efforts to ensure that the Totally Protected Area in the State is sufficient for protecting and improving environmental services.
“This is in line with efforts to address the issue of climate change, realise the green technology agenda and the State’s contribution to the country’s commitment at the 26th Conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC Cop-26).
“Forest restoration efforts will continue to be the focus of Sabah development in line with the direction of Green Sustainability under the SMJ Development Plan.
“The State Government has planned various initiatives involving forest restoration activities, including silviculture treatment covering an area of 5,000 hectares and enriching plants covering an area of 1,000 hectares in degraded forest areas every year, as well as restoration and conservation programmes for mangrove forest reserves along the coast in Sabah,” he said.
The development of the forestry industry will be intensified through forest plantations in line with the Forest Plantation Development Action Plan (2022-2036), which will generate more job opportunities for the people.
“The development of the forest recreation and ecotourism sector will be further strengthened through new construction and upgrading existing centres for comfort and to meet visitors’ needs.
“Research and development activities (R&D) of mineral water in forest reserves are also implemented.”
Aside from that, he said, the State Government will implement the Sabah Forest Resources Geospatial Database and Technology Development Project to transform the public service delivery system in forest resource management.
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