Sarawak Slashes Land Premium Rates By 10 To 25 Pct

MIRI, May 26 (Bernama) -- The Sarawak Government today announced reductions in land premium rates from 10 to 25 per cent with immediate effect. State Resources Planning and Management Minister Datuk Seri Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said between 25 and 40 per cent would be charged for applications to extend the land lease for 60 years. The previous rate was 50 per cent.

Applicants extending their terms of title to 99 years would be levied an additional premium of 30 per cent, he said. This is the first time the state government was allowing 99-year lease, he told a press conference after launching the State Land and Survey Department's online payment system for land premium and rent.

Awang Tengah said reductions and options to extend the terms came under the new policy on land lease that had been promised by Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud. "The Government took into account many factors when reviewing the policy including the impact on the people, particularly the social needs of the lower income group," he said. Under the new premium payment scheme, the rate for the extension of town land for residential purposes had been fixed at a flat rate of 25 per cent from the previous 25 per cent to 50 per cent.

The ceiling rate for town land for commercial, industrial and recreational purposes had been reduced from 61 per cent to 40 per cent, with a minimum premium of 25 per cent, he said. For suburban land, he said the Government had decided on a premium of between 25 per cent and 35 per cent while a flat premium rate of 25 per cent was imposed for country land. Awang Tengah said the new policy also allowed applications for term extension to be made at any time before the expiration of the land lease as long as the property had been used or developed without contravening the title conditions and was not required by the Government for development purposes.

Previously, applications for extension of land lease would have to be submitted to the Land and Survey Department five years before the expiry date. Describing the new rates as "reasonable", Awang Tengah said the low-income landowners would be charged lower than the normal premium based on the merits of each application. "The Government is allowing payment of premium by annual instalments not exceeding 10 years. This policy is only practised in this state," he said.

He said the new annual land rent imposed in Sarawak was among the lowest in the country at a range of between three sen and 14 sen per sq metre compared to in Perak where the rate was between RM1.10 and RM4.30 per sq metre and Kuala Lumpur (10 sen to 72 sen per sq metre).

Awang Tengah said while he was aware that certain parties were manipulating the issue of land market value when harping on the premium rate issues, the new land rate did not take into account the value of the properties built on it. He said implementation of the new policy would reduce the state government's revenue by between RM8 million and RM10 million in premium collections.

"Being one of the major revenues, steps have been taken to ensure it will not harm the state development. "With this new policy, we've addressed the issue of security on land ownership, the land is more tangible and landowners have the choice," he added.

-- BERNAMA