Amicable settlement of Ijok land issue achieved

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor government and developers have reached a win-win settlement on the 18-year-old Ijok land issue, said Shuhaimi Shafiei, the political secretary to the mentri besar.

He said about 2,200 acres of the land was sold at RM1.18 billion, and part of the money would be used as compensation and to build houses for 1,000 affected residents.

Shuhaimi said banks which had provided loans to the companies would also be paid and they would withdraw all summonses and claims against the state government.

“The Selangor government will acquire the rest of the land, of about 1,000 acres, without paying any compensation,” he said in a statement.

Shuhaimi said the problem was “inherited” by Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali when he assumed the mentri besar post in 2014.

“There are about 30 court cases involving the state government, with a potential liability of hundreds of millions of ringgit.”

Former mentri besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim had last week urged authorities to probe the state government over the return of part of the land to the developers.

When the Opposition took over Selangor in 2008, Khalid – who was then mentri besar – seized the land by utilising the National Land Code.

The developers then sued the state government but lost the case.