By Ashley Sim
KUCHING, May 17: Padungan assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen has criticised the significant increase in revised land lease premium rates following the victory of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) in 2021, arguing that the people should not have been “rewarded” with such a hike.
Chong pointed out that in June of last year, the government conducted a recategorisation of land throughout Sarawak, resulting in the reclassification of many rural lands as townlands or suburban lands.
“So, what is the implication? The implication is on the amount of premium that landowners must pay for lease renewal.
“Under the current policy, if agricultural land is categorised as townland, the renewal premium for 60 years is RM5,000 per acre, and if classified as suburban land is RM2,500 per acre, whereas country land is RM200 per acre.
“With the recategorisation of land exercise completed in June 2022, many of these agricultural lands were recategorised as townlands, raising the price per acre to RM5,000,” he said when debating the TYT’s speech at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting here today.
He further stressed that this increase translates to a staggering 25-fold ( or 2,500 per cent) increase in the premium rate payable by landowners.
“I believe that the recategorisation exercise was done after the 2021 GPS victory.
“The rakyat should not be ‘rewarded’ in such a huge hike in the land premium renewal rate,” he pointed out.
Chong urged the government to look into this issue and relax the application for land lease renewal and to reconsider reviewing the premium payable by these landowners upon their extension of land leases. — DayakDaily
