PUTRAJAYA, 23 Dec 2008: The Perak government needs the approval of the National Land Council (NLC) to award freehold land titles to residents of new and planned villages in the state, said Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The Deputy Prime Minister said the National Land Policy (NLP) stated freehold titles can only be given if these lands are to be used by the Federal government for public purposes of because of special circumstances.
As such, he said, the council would be holding a special meeting soon to deliberate the Perak government’s proposal to award the titles.
“In terms of policy and the Constitution, it cannot be done unilaterally, it must go through the NLC.
“As such, the Perak government cannot implement the move until a decision is take by the NLC,” he told reporters after chairing the NLC’s 64th annual general meeting here today.
Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin had recently announced that the state did not foresee any problems in awarding freehold land titles to some 110,000 residents of new villages and planned villages in the state, which would be done in stages.
He had said that it would only involve about 6,000 hectares which amounted to just 0.01% of the land size of Perak.
Najib said the Perak government had its own reasons to award the titles but it should not contravene the NLP as determined by the NLC.
He said the NLC was formed under the constitution with the objective of streamlining land matters so that there was uniformity among the states.
Najib also said the internet-based “e-tanah” land management system would be expanded to Negeri Sembilan and Malacca from next year following a successful pilot run in Penang.
If the exercise proved successful, the system would be expanded to all states, he added. — Bernama
