Wednesday July 16, 2008

Illegal houses demolished at Bintulu-Bakun dam stretch

MIRI: The Sarawak Land and Survey Department has started demolishing houses considered illegally built along a 200km stretch of road from Bintulu to the RM6bil Bakun hydroelectric dam project site.

As of 3.30pm yesterday, dozens of houses on the fringes of the Bintulu-Bakun road had been torn down.

Bintulu Land and Survey Department superintendent Azmaen Saperi, in a statement, confirmed that structures considered illegal and empty houses built on land belonging to the state government would be torn down.

Houses built by natives who do not have land titles are also considered illegal even though they claim to have native customary rights.

“Dialogues have already been held with the people (at the end of last year) informing them about the need to vacate state land,” he said.

The crackdown started yesterday, with the department sending heavy machinery and enforcement officers to demolish the illegal structures.

The officers were deployed late yesterday morning to various locations from Bintulu to the Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme about 150km away.