KUALA LUMPUR: Overlapping land ownership is one of the biggest hurdles facing redevelopment efforts for Malay reserve land, says Datuk Seri Dr Zaliha Mustafa.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) cited an example in Kuala Lumpur where 256 individuals had overlapping claims to a plot of land measuring 808sq m (8,700sq ft).
"Part of Malay reserve land is passed from generation to generation. This has caused a plot of land to be owned by up to hundreds of individuals registered under shared ownership.
"The commercial or redevelopment process could fail if even just one owner disagrees with the offer," she told the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Oct 6).
Datuk Azman Nasrudin (PN-Padang Serai) had asked the government to explain why the development of Malay reserve land in Kuala Lumpur, such as Kampong Baru, faces significant challenges, and the extent to which factors like overlapping land ownership and limited market value contribute to this issue.
Dr Zaliha added that the future market value of Malay reserve land is considered limited because of restrictions prohibiting transfer of ownership to non-Malays.
This also directly limits investor and property market interest in completed units for sale, she added.
"Meanwhile, most Malay reserve land in Kuala Lumpur is in strategic locations and will incur high development costs, for example, the Sungai Penchala Malay reserve," she said.
She added that as of this year, the total area of Malay reserve land in the Federal Territory is 1,004ha (2,480 acres).
This includes reserve land in Segambut and Selayang in Batu, as well as Sungai Penchala and Taman Desa in Kuala Lumpur, and the Gombak Malay Reserve in Setapak.
Dr Zaliha also said Kampung Baru in the capital was reserved as a Malay Agricultural Settlement (MAS) area as gazetted on Jan 12, 1900, using the provisions in Section 6 of the Land Enactment 1897, and later through the MAS (Kuala Lumpur) Rules 1950.
She added that such provisions do not subject Kampung Baru to the Malay Reserve Enactment.
