Keeping public land safe

The Star 8/6/2006

THE Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) will seek to place a caveat on all land meant for public use that has yet to handed over to the council by developers. Councillor Awtar Singh, who made the proposal, said that there had been a gross oversight by the Land Office when it issued titles for plots of land meant for public use and some took advantage of the situation.

“The plots range from those set aside for playgrounds and open areas to those meant to house markets, hawker centres and multi-purpose halls,” he said.

He said some of the developers purposely delayed handing over the land to the council and, later, quietly sold it to third parties.

He said the third party should check with the council before purchasing any land, but the council was still caught in the middle of a tug-of-war as the new owners would not want to hand over the land after having paid a hefty sum for it.

Councillor Datuk Satim Diman said he agreed with the proposal and had just learnt of a developer in Puchong that wanted to sell a plot of land it was supposed to surrender for the construction of a market.

“The culprits take advantage of the fact that the title has been issued to them and will do anything to get away without handing over the land even though this has been conditioned in the approved development plans,” he said.

Councillor Datuk Lee Hwa Beng said the council could be deemed as an interested party because the plots of land that had to be handed over were outlined in the approved plans.

“If the court will accept the plans as binding contracts, we could get the caveats we need and this will help us ensure that even if the land is not handed to us, it will not be sold to someone else,” he said.