Sabah govt approves 51 native title grants for 98ha of Kota Marudu land

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government has approved 51 Native Title (NT) land grants totalling 98ha for the people in Bandau, Kota Marudu.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor announced this during his visit to the Kota Marudu district on Tuesday (Aug 23), where he also said the government had agreed that seven settlements inside state-owned Sawit Kinabalu land would be alienated and gazetted as village reserves.

“This shows that the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah - Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN) state government has always been sensitive to peoples' needs," he said, adding that they will approve NT land grants for other constituencies in Kota Marudu soon as well.

Hajiji said this when speaking at a meet-the-people programme at the district community hall there.

Meanwhile, the seven settlements to be gazetted as villages are Kampung Bukit Lalang, Bengkongan, Langkon Baru, Minansad, Sungoi Laut, Tonsom/Muhibbah and Toporoi.

At the same time, two villages in the Bandau constituency were also gazetted as village reserves, namely Kg Torintidon and Kg Asin-Asin.

On another development, Hajiji, who is also state Finance Minister, said the state has also approved an RM5mil allocation to expand the dual roadway in the Kota Marudu township to ease traffic congestion.

Hajiji also visited the Bandau water treatment plant at Kampung Simpangan, where he was briefed by the district engineer on short and long-term plans to solve the water supply woes.

A 100m pipe bridge costing RM1.6mil at Kg Simpangan Sungai Bandau has also been given the nod to address the water supply problem in the district.

"Hopefully, the infrastructure will help to address the water supply issue here," he said.