THE Sabah Barisan Nasional will not neglect the rights of natives to own the land they lived and toiled since the time of their ancestors.
For this the State Native Land Services programme, or PANTAS, was introduced in 2011 to hasten the survey and issuance of land titles on Native Customary Right lands in 2011.
Since then, the Land and Surveys department had issued 21,378 titles for lands totalling 36,137.02 ha in 92 villages through PANTAS, in recognition of the native customary rights of the indigenous people.
This follows the concerns from many native communities and BN leaders on the need to resolve the issue of people not having the deed to call the land their own.
The government had also initiated the Communal Grant programme, to make natives owners of Native Customary Right Lands.
Since 2011, 73 communal grants were processed, involving 217 villages in 12 districts covering an area of nearly 50,000 ha.
The government pledged the PANTAS and Communal Grant programme will continue to resolves issues related to Native Customary Rights lands.
A sum of RM20 million was also allocated by the Federal government under the Budget 2018 and some 17,000 hectares of land is expected to be surveyed this year.
The initiave, a collaboration involving the State and Federal government, will involve 80 teams from the State Land and Survey team.