MIRI, Dec 15: Miri City Council (MCC) has clarified that the land for Miri City Hall was not purchased in 2004.
In a press statement today, it said in 2004, under the then MCC, the council was still in the process of applying for Miri to be upgraded to city status.
“Therefore, the then Miri Municipal Council did not have any plans yet and needless to say lacked any fund allocation to purchase land for constructing a city hall building.
“Nevertheless, there was a proposal from the developer for the council to construct a city hall building (not on the piece of land of the present site),” said MCC.
The council pointed out that the said proposal was kept in view as during that time, the proposed elevation of Miri to city status was still in the application stage and there were no concrete plans to construct a city hall.
On the matter of acquiring land for the construction of a city hall, it was noted that there were a few proposals on the location of the city hall.
“However, after due consideration by various government agencies, the final siting was decided on the piece of land reclaimed from the sea and the land acquisition was finalised and approved by the land authority on Oct 25, 2018.
“MCC would like to reiterate that the final land acquisition involving part of the reclaimed land from the sea, for Miri City Hall construction, was carried out in accordance with government financial requirements pertaining to land procurement including the rating and valuation of the land for the land acquisition,” said MCC. — DayakDaily
