More efficient and effective land administration system

KOTA KINABALU: The State Government strives to provide a more efficient and effective land administration system.

Sabah Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin in his address when opening the 16th State Assembly sitting here on Thursday, said it will speed up land administration management by improving land affairs services, especially through digitising the service delivery system to ensure optimal and sustainable land use.

He said four mobile applications for land-related matters were developed last year, namely eKebenaran Masuk Tapak for site entering applications, e-Jadual B for sand, stone or soil extracting applications, e-Subsidiary Title for strata title grant obtaining applications and e-Drone for drone-flying applications.

“Focus will also continue to be given to improve services related to Native Land and gazetting of Native Reserves.

“The State Government had successfully measured 7,652 Native Land lots with a total area of 14,656.8 hectares or 35,992.9 acres and gazetted 85 lots of Native Reserves under Section 78 of the Sabah Land Ordinance.

“For the year 2024, the State Government aims to measure at least 7,500 Native Land lots with an area of 15,000 hectares and gazette 80 areas native village areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, Juhar said as a measure to deal with climate change, the role of the Climate Change Unit under the Sabah Climate Action Council (SCAC) which has been established to set the direction and coordination of climate change mitigation and adaptation projects at the state level level will continue to be empowered.

He said there are two main work components that will be carried out by the unit this year, namely the Greenhouse Gases Inventory and a study on the impact, vulnerability and adaption of climate change in Sabah.

In addition, he said the State Government will continue conservation efforts under the Heart of Borneo 2010-2030 strategic action plan initiative to improve the conservation and management of Heart of Borneo landscape in Sabah, and restoration efforts will also continue including silviculture treatment activities.

“This year, the State Government in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will implement a project titled Integrated Landscape Management of Heart of Borneo Landscapes in Sabah under Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding through Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact Program (FOLUR IP) to intensify transformation of land use planning and management in Sabah,” he said.

Juhar said focus will also be on efforts to improve the growth of the main productive sectors such as forest plantations, eco-tourism and research to stimulate forestry industry development.