Abdullah speaking during the ceremony celebrating the department’s ‘Integrity and Innovation Day’ at DUN complex today. – Photo by Rosytein Emmor
KUCHING (Sept 7): A total of 999,853 hectares of native customary rights (NCR) land have been perimeter surveyed as of Aug 31, despite the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic, said Sarawak Land and Survey Department (JTS) director Abdullah Julaihi.
Out of the 999,853 hectares, Abdullah said 776,226 hectares had been gazetted under Section 6 of the Land Code and another 55,970 hectares have been individually surveyed.
“The efforts are continuing in order to fulfil our roles, aside from other tasks involving village expansion scheme, relocation scheme and also to assist other departmental clients to make land available for development such as for basic infrastructure, bridge, telecommunication towers network and others,” he said.
As could be seen from the pictorial book on the compilation of NCR land survey for the past decade (2010 to 2020) launched by the chief minister yesterday, Abdullah said land surveying will always remain as a top priority for the department and NCR perimeter survey works will continue even in the face of a pandemic.
He was speaking at a ceremony celebrating the department’s ‘Integrity and Innovation Day’ at the new State Legislative Assembly (DUN) complex, Petra Jaya yesterday.
Also, Abdullah said the department always believed the biggest room in the world is ‘the room for improvement’ and as such, inter-divisional office innovative and creative competitions (KIK) have been organised to come up with the best practices.
He said the KIK convention had successfully produced 13 innovative projects this year, comprising 12 projects utilising information and communications technology (ICT) and one on technical application of solar system in land surveying at a field.
Since 2008, Abdullah said the KIK initiative by the department had produced 165 projects.
“Two of the 13 projects this year involved a hybrid collaboration between Public Works Department (JKR) Limbang and Sarawak Islamic Department (Jais) Samaharan division. All projects have been submitted to Sarawak Civil Service Innovation Convention Award 2021.”
Four of the projects produced this year were to challenge the ‘status quo’ and further improve service delivery. They were Earth Removal System from SassokuTECH of JTS Kuching; Land Claimant System by Jejari7D of JTS Kapit; eNCRplus by V12 of JTS Serian and Survey Visual Indicator by Innotech Q9 of JTS Bintulu.
A majority or nine of the projects produced this year were to cope with the challenges brought by Covid-19 pandemic, namely MyRETA by Knight of Batang Lupar from JTS Sri Aman; eNTQ by Infiniti Tri-D of JTS Sibu; MyLEPS by 4 Quest Reborn of JTS Miri; ALaRMS by Lands Tahai Q Hybrid Tarom of JTS Limbang and JKR Limbang; eFIRM by Li-High Tech of JTS Sarikei; WLAD by Evolve 8 of JTS Samarahan and Jais Samaharahan; SSA by Ruai Vaie of JTS Bintulu; TASC by Accurate of JTS Mukah and WhaRES by Axis Paradox of JTS Betong.
“The aspects of real-time, data sharing, electronic government and digitalisation have manifested in each of the innovations produced by the KIK groups.”
Moreover, Abdullah said the features of the mobile Lasis app that was launched in 2018 had now been expanded to 12 from the initial nine to further digitalise service delivery.
“We will continuously and immediately adjust ourselves to the changing business condition to stay relevant and vigilant with the technology. Engagement with the stakeholders and the people must continuously be carried out.”
A YouTube channel by the department had also been set up to provide educational, tutorial and awareness information in different languages.
Furthermore, Abdullah said the department had introduced an appointment system to provide greater convenience and coordination to deliver services to the public systematically.
“One of the services offered through this appointment system is the Land Registry Counter that has been considered as an essential economic activity to facilitate matters related to collateral, rental and transfer of property.”
For the record, Abdullah said the transactions as of Aug 31 this year had reached a total of RM35.5 billion, compared with RM10.5 billion recorded in the same period last year.
He also pointed out the total value of transactions involving property was not less than RM29 billion every year.
On a separate matter, Abdullah said the department had implemented the Organisational Anti-Corruption Plan (OACP) this year as part of their commitment to support the anti-corruption policy of the government.
A total of 10 officers from the department received Integrity Officer Award during the celebration yesterday in recognition of their efforts.
Among those attending the celebration at the DUN complex were Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office (Integrity and Ombudsman) Datuk Talib Zulpilip, State Secretary Datuk Amar Jaul Samion and Forest Department director Datu Hamden Mohammad.