This is to ensure land ownership by GLCs can be controlled and monitored to prevent any manipulation which can negatively implicate the government.
The natural resources and environment ministry, in a statement, said the letter was introduced after the recent transfer of ownership of Felda land to Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd.
“Authorisation letters for land transactions issued by the federal and the state governments to the federal and state GLCs are aimed at monitoring the orderly and protected transactions of the GLC lands to preserve the country’s strategic assets and interests of the people.
“In this regard, the ministry, through the director-general of the Federal Department of Lands and Mines will issue an administrative directive relating to land transactions involving the GLCs which must be accompanied by a letter from the finance ministry,” it said.
According to the statement, applications for GLC land transactions owned by a state government should be submitted together with a letter of approval from the menteri besar or chief minister of the state.
Earlier, it was reported that the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) had confirmed that it had regained ownership of the land in Jalan Semarak here, from Synergy Promenade Sdn Bhd (SPSB), without incurring any cost.
Regaining the ownership of the 16 plots of land, which involved four sale and purchase transactions done in December 2015 and November 2016, was effected through a memorandum of understanding signed between Felda and SPSB at the Felda headquarters yesterday.
“The developer has voluntarily agreed to return the land ownership to Felda without cost and has given all the land ownership documents to be re-registered in Felda’s name,” Felda chairman Shahrir Samad said.
With regards to the ongoing development of the Kuala Lumpur Vertical City (KLVC) project on the land, Shahrir said the project would continue as the developer had already received the development order before the transactions for the change in land ownership were done.
He said all matters relating to the KLVC project would depend on the development agreement which was signed between Felda’s subsidiary, Felda Investment Corporation, and SPSB in June 2014.