Its director, Bernard Liew Chau Min, clarified that the department had got the figures mixed up.
“On Feb 18, the state government handed over a total of 177 land titles to the federal government with the actual total acreage of 519.444ha or 1,283.57 acres,” he said in a statement here today.
When asked why the previous statement on the matter, issued by the Chief Minister’s Department, stated land measuring 1,933.09ha was presented to the agencies, he said: “The figures were wrongly calculated. Our mistake.”
He said land titles handed over on Feb 18 were for federal purposes, acquired by way of the land acquisition process and approved before 2016. The land premiums were fully paid.
“Most of the land had already been constructed with schools, hospitals and other public facilities.
“Land titles granted to the federal agencies were especially meant for building of public facilities such as schools, hospitals, police stations or post offices to provide services to the public,” Liew said.
Yesterday, Warisan Youth chief Azis Jamman had slammed the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government, stating that to “give away” such a vast amount of land was shocking and undermined the rights of Sabahans.
He said Warisan did not object to building public infrastructure but claimed that the federal government already possessed large tracts of land in Sabah.
“Why is the current state government giving away more land when many areas already alienated to the federal agencies have been left idle for many years?”
Sabah assistant finance minister Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan shot back at Azis today, saying the latter had tried to mislead the public by saying state land had been given to the agencies.
Nizam, who is PPBM Tawau division chief, said the Sepanggar MP had “intentionally and knowingly” attempted to politicise the issue.
“Azis knows very well that most of the land titles handed to the federal agencies on Feb 18 have already been developed, with existing public facilities. Instead, he chose to twist the facts,” he said in a statement here today.
Meanwhile, on Azis’s contention that the previous Warisan-led government had awarded villagers with native land titles for more than 4,000ha, Nizam, who is Apas assemblyman, said the party was attempting to ride on the achievements of the previous state government.
“It is a fact that these land titles issued were surveyed and approved by the Barisan Nasional-led government and Azis knows the time taken to process these applications would be long. Hence, the titles were only ready to be issued around 2019 to 2020.”
He added it was shameful that Aziz and Warisan had repeatedly tried to claim credit over this.
Liew said there were two methods of acquiring land by federal agencies — acquisition of private land under the Sabah Land Acquisition Ordinance Cap 69 and by way of application for state land.
He said in 2016, the state government decided that all land for federal purposes to be acquired through land application of state land would not be granted land titles but instead would be gazetted under Section 28 of the Sabah Land Ordinance Cap 68.
“Thus, the land will be maintained under the state government.
“Land for federal purposes acquired through the land acquisition process, and compensation funded wholly by federal agencies, will be granted with leasehold land titles,” he said.
Liew said examples of land for federal purpose that had been gazetted and maintained under the state government are the Customs Department headquarters on Jalan Sulaman here and the police station in Tawau.
He said land for federal purposes were issued 99-year leasehold titles, adding the federal agencies will have to pay the premium and annual quit rent, just like other land owners.