SIBU: Native Customary Rights (NCR) landowners in Oya, Ulu Oya, Sekuau and Pakoh have expressed their thanks to the Sarawak government for approving their land to be surveyed under Section 18 of the Land Code.
Oya, Sekuau and Pakoh Area Development Association chairman Cr Henry Kanyan Vincent Rawing confirmed this yesterday.
“Sibu JTS officer Cecelia Sintan told us that the NCR land in Oya, Ulu Oya, Sekuau and Pakoh have been approved,” he told the media.
“JTS is only waiting to assign staff for the purpose,” said Henry, who was representing 64 longhouses in the Batang Oya, Sekuau, Stapang and Pakoh areas.
Henry, who is also GPS Youth Exco member, said the visit to the Sibu JTS office was to speed up NCR land survey in the areas, among others.
“Other issues discussed were applying for the status of land in Sekuau and the state land gazetted in the former Rascom land ownership for development projects in Sekuau,” he said.
“We also applied for the grant of land titles in Sekuau to all original inhabitants of the area (Sekuau)…a request for a lot for pepper planting in Sekuau where the land was formerly under Sekuau,” he said.
In December last year, 998 NCR landowners from Pakoh, Sekuau, Bejait, Seluan and Ulu Tebalai areas applied for the speedy process of land acquisition in the area, to Section 18.
The 33,000-hectare NCR land was relocated to Section 6 in 2016.
In early 2017, JTS held a dialogue with the landowners and notified them of Section 18.
