Audit report: Acquisition of NCR land in Sarawak satisfactory

KUCHING: The overall management of reclaiming Native Customary Rights (NCR) land which have been issued with titles by the Sarawak government was satisfactorily carried out in accordance with Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code 1958 (Cap.81).

According to the Auditor-General’s Report 2013, as at last September, 290,626 hectares from the 1.63 million hectares of NCR land were given titles under the Sarawak Land Code 1958.

For the period from 2011 to September last year, 476.61 hectares of NCR land were reclaimed by the state government for development involving 157 projects at an acquisition cost of RM322.22 million.

The report also proposed improvements to overcome weaknesses such as the fast-track approval of proposed sites without going through the Land and Survey Department, the process of acquiring land which exceeded the established norms and acquired land which have yet to be developed.

It also proposed that the state government ensure that each application for a project site via the fast track adhere to specific criteria and that the Land and Survey Department should be equipped with the Land Survey Information Centre System (LASIS) to enable it to better handle delays in land acquisition.

Apart from that, the audit found the management of palm oil sales revenue collection by the Sarawak government to be satisfactory. — BERNAMA