Pahang serious about land legalisation programme in Cameron Highlands

KUANTAN: The Pahang state government is serious in implementing an agricultural land legalisation programme involving 5,526.291 hectares of Perbadanan Setiausaha Kerajaan (PSK) owned land in Cameron Highlands.

Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said the legalisation will be conducted via a Pahang Corporation Sdn Bhd (Pahang Corp) agricultural land rental scheme, replacing the Temporary Occupation License (TOL) that began in 2020.

He said that a total of 1,661 names have been updated in the farmers’ database under the legalisation programme as of June 30.

“Meanwhile, 403 hectares of land have been cultivated exceeding the original TOLs and 1,443 hectares are being processed for new approvals.

“From the total of land, 2798 hectares have been surveyed for update in the database. Pahang Corp has been appointed as a One Stop Agency (OSA) for the collection of rent and charges of related agencies for the convenience of farmers,” he said in a statement here on Thursday (Aug 1).

Wan Rosdy said the programme aimed to reduce leakages in the state government’s collections and to coordinate and ensure compliance of all regulations, before, during and after rental periods.

He added that RM51.2mil or 58 per cent of the annual rental for the period of 2020 to June 30 this year was collected, with RM37.8mil still pending.

“When compared to the overall total, the pending rental amount shows there are still many farmers who have not paid up and this indirectly will affect the revenue collection, which results in losses for the state government.

“Therefore, the Pahang government hopes that farmers who have yet to pay up will settle their rent payments in 2024,” he said.- Bernama