New NCR land survey initiative more efficient – Awg Tengah

MUKAH: The new Native Customary Rights (NCR) Land Survey Initiative has proven to be more efficient than the approach used previously, according to Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.

He said under the new initiative perimeter survey is done first, followed by individual survey only after the area is gazetted under Section 6 of the Sarawak Land Code (SLC).

“The previous approach prioritised survey on individual lot,” he noted.

He said that as of Feb 28 this year, the Land and Survey Department (LSD) had surveyed a total of 879,913 hectares (ha) or 2.17 million acres of NCR land across the state in a period of less than 10 years.

“50 years ago from 1960 to 2010 we had only managed to survey 260,000 ha or 642,460 acres.

“The achievement of our survey is more than four times the achievement we made within 50 years.

“This is proof of effectiveness of the new approach,” he said before presenting Bumiputera Communal Reserve Gazette under Section 6 of the SLC and land titles under Section 18 of the SLC at Kampung Sesok multipurpose hall here yesterday.

Awang Tengah also performed groundbreaking for the project to expand Kampung Sesok.

Earlier, he said that the government had always recognised the people’s rights to their land.

“In fact, the survey of NCR land has been implemented since 1960s under the Settlement Operation and Traditional Village Survey Programme which has been implemented since the beginning of the year 2000,” he said.

“Efforts to speed up the measurement of valid NCR land are being intensified with the implementation of the new initiative,” he added.

According to him, a total of 25,796 individual lots covering 32,107 ha had been surveyed successfully.