3,000 families in Perak to get 99-year land titles

IPOH: Three thousand families living on temporary occupation licence (TOL) land in the state will be given 99-year land titles, says Perak Mentri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu.

They are mostly in the coastal areas of Kerian, Larut Matang, Manjung, Hilir Perak and Bagan Datuk.

“The Perak Land and Mines Office has assisted in identifying 3,000 families.

“The settlers are all well qualified, some of them have occupied the land for almost 50 years.

“We will award the land titles to the settlers as soon as possible. I will make an effort to meet them,” he told the press after opening a public forum on Perak’s future, direction, social justice and democracy in Meru yesterday.

The forum, attended by a majority of village chiefs from new villages, organised villages, Felda villages and other interested par- ties, touched on the awarding of permanent land titles to these villages – which was deemed against the Federal Constitution.

The National Land Council meeting held in 1997 had set the leasehold for new villages to at least 60 years or not more than 99 years.

Speakers at the forum were scholar Prof Dr Hassan Basri Awang Mat Dahan, former state Land and Mines Office director Datuk Abu Zar Omar, former state exco Mohd Zainuddin Mohd Yusof and lawyer Wan Koon Seng. Academician Prof Dr Fakhruldin Mohd Hashim was the moderator.

Ahmad Faizal said land titles, however, would not be given to settlers at areas within river reserves, roads and so on.

“Actually, there are many more lands with TOL status but I cannot give titles to reserved areas such as roads and rivers.

“We need to think about future development,” he said.

He noted that any decision on land status would take a long time to make considering the many aspects involved.