LRT: Affected landowners can apply for land lease renewal

THE Sarawak government is ready to give due consideration to land lease renewal applications for lands along the proposed Light Rail Transit ( LRT) lines, now subject to Section 47 of the State Land Code.

Deputy Chief Minister II I Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, who is also Second Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources, said the matter was decided recently by the government since the LRT project had been postponed.

“Detailed study is now being done to finalise the LRT lines, and to identify the lands involved.

“Imposition of Section 47 is very important for us to determine the exact alignment of the LRT project.

“However, the government has decided that landowners af fected by Section 47 can submit for renewal of their land titles at anytime,” he said in his ministerial winding- up speech yesterday.

It was reported recently that at least 30 affected landowners had already been slapped with letters of rejection from the Land and Survey Department when applying for land lease renewal, since their parcels of land are subject to Section 47.

On another matter, Awang Tengah said the Air Quality Monitoring Stations (AQMS) in Lawas, Tebedu and Lubok Antu would be upgraded to do reading for Particulate Matter 2.5 ( PM2.5) to complement its Particulate Matter 10 ( PM10) reading.

“This is to ensure more accurate reading of air pollutant index.

“Two more AQMS will be built – in Lundu this year, and in Bario next year,” he said.