Unused Lands With Federal Interest Should Go To States

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ADUN SPEAKS | I welcome the recent suggestion by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim that undeveloped state lands that have federal interest should be returned to the respective states within a period of three months.
Hundreds of acres of land allocated to the federal government for educational, health and recreational purposes have not been developed.
Most of the lands are lying idle covered with shrubs and secondary forests preventing the state governments from developing them.
This is particularly so among states that have land shortages.
But these state lands with federal interest cannot be developed without the approval of the federal government.
In the past, given the fact that the federal government and some state governments were controlled by political coalitions on the opposite side of the political divide, it was near impossible to develop state lands with federal interest.
Even though these lands were of no use to the federal government, there was no decision made regarding their development.
Land shortage in Penang
Penang is one example of a state that suffers from land shortage but there are state lands with federal interest without any prospect of development.
Without the decision of the federal land authority, these lands will not be developed.
Recently, there was an application by a state agency for the development of eight parcels of land in Penang, both the island and the mainland, with some situated in prime lucrative commercial centres.
But unfortunately, the agency was refused the ownership of the land because of the prevailing federal interest.
The Penang state has requested the land department to look into the matter with the objective of getting approval from the federal government.
In this respect, the decision by Anwar to return the lands with federal interest is something timely and appropriate.
Perhaps a cabinet decision in this direction might be most appropriate to hasten the process of land transfers.
Speeding up the transfer of undeveloped lands with federal interest to the respective states might be good for development, especially in states under the duress of land shortage.
However, if the federal government needs some of these lands, then the states must be informed.
Years of indecision and political rivalry between the two layers of the government and others have impacted negatively on development.
Anwar’s decision to transfer lands with federal interests has come at the most opportune time.
Hopefully, both the federal government and the state authorities will give effect to Anwar’s decision. - Mkini
P RAMASAMY is the Perai assemblyperson and Penang deputy chief minister II.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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