by DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Jan 16: Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen is seeking justification for homeowners of a semi-detached house situated along the main road opposite Kuching Central Bus Terminal who are about to lose their home to the development of the Kuching Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) project there.
In a statement today, he said initially, the homeowners, a mother and son, received a notice from the Kuching Land Registry Office on the proposed acquisition of a small portion of their house compound measuring 70 square metres.
The homeowners did not object to the proposed acquisition of 70 square metres which is out of the whole 518 square metres of land where the house sits.
However, this month, they were served a notice which stated that the government is acquiring the whole 518 square metres of their land, including the semi-detached house it sits on, for an acquisition price of RM460,000.
“Not only will the mother and son be required to vacate their house, with this acquisition price, they will not even be able to buy an intermediate terrace house in the area,” Chong lamented.
“In the present case, proper Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in land acquisition exercise was by-passed and the landowners were offered insufficient compensation for the deprivation of their land.
“In other cases, land renewal process was made more difficult, higher quit rent and premiums were imposed,” he said.
He added, “It is my view that the government’s acquisition in this case is most unreasonable in that when initially the study only shows that 70 square metre area of the land is required for public purpose but the whole 518 square metres was acquired.
“In respect of the acquisition of the whole 518 square metres of the land, the owners were not given a chance under Section 49 to make their representation which the Land Code has provided them for. They were deprived of their rights to be heard provided under the law.
“The acquisition price paid by the government for the semi-detached house can’t even allow the owner to purchase an intermediate terrace house in the same area, thus the acquisition price is very much below the market value.”
In the meantime, he said they will provide assistance required by the mother and son. – DayakDaily
