MUKAH: The Sarawak government is stepping up efforts to protect Native Customary Rights (NCR) land with expanded land surveying programmes and the Village Expansion Scheme (SPK) to benefit rural communities.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the NCR land surveying programme aims to ensure landowners obtain legal recognition of their land, thereby preventing future ownership disputes.
He said the NCR land surveying programme, implemented statewide since 2010, is carried out in stages, beginning with perimeter surveying under Section 6 of the Sarawak Land Code, followed by individual surveying under Section 18.
“Residents who are interested can submit applications to the Land and Survey Department.
“After the perimeter surveying is completed and the land is gazetted as a Bumiputera Communal Reserve, owners can proceed with individual surveying applications to obtain land title deeds.”
He said this in a media conference during the Ceremony for the Handover of Bumiputera Communal Reserve Gazettes (Agriculture) under Section 6 and Land Title Deeds under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code at the CENTEXS Mukah Multipurpose Hall here today.
Awang Tengah stressed that the entire cost of implementing the NCR land surveying programme is fully borne by the Sarawak government, with allocations exceeding RM40 million to date and an estimated annual expenditure of around RM30 million.
He added that to ensure the smooth implementation of the programme across the state, the government has also increased the number of field officers in the Land and Survey Department by 467.
However, he said that applicants involved in court disputes must withdraw their cases before joining the land surveying programme.
He revealed that a total of 1.2 million hectares of NCR land have been surveyed by perimeter since 2010, with more than 900,000 hectares successfully gazetted as legally recognized ownership.
Earlier, he officiated the Groundbreaking Ceremony for Phase 1 of the Tellian Tengah Village Expansion Scheme (SPK), which involves 168 lots, as part of the government’s effort to improve settlement quality and community well-being in the Tellian constituency.
