Fire victims won’t be placed in Kg Darau, says Sabah land official

Some 250 villagers had organised a peaceful protest on Sunday after hearing that a settlement will be coming up there.

Sabah Land and Survey Department director Safar Untong says several sites in Kota Kinabalu have been identified for building transit homes for fire victims.

KOTA KINABALU: Kampung Darau residents can now heave a sigh of relief after a top state official today confirmed that their village is not among the sites proposed for a transit settlement for fire victims.

State Land and Survey Department director Safar Untong said the village is not in the list of proposed areas submitted to the state government to build the temporary shelters.

Some 250 Kampung Darau residents had on Sunday organised a peaceful gathering to oppose the plan to build the temporary settlement for victims of a fire in Kampung Cenderamata II in Likas here that left 783 people homeless last week.

Sepanggar MP Azis Jamman had announced the building of the settlement when visiting the fire victims. However, he had clarified that no decision had been made as yet on whether to build the settlement in Kampung Darau.

Safar said Chief Minister Shafie Apdal had also stressed that the settlements are only meant for local fire victims with Malaysian citizenship.

Safar said his department had shortlisted several pieces of government land to house the transit settlement.

“After the CM’s visit to the scene of the fire on July 25, he had instructed the Land and Survey Department to identify government land which would be appropriate for the settlement.

“These pieces of unoccupied land we have selected are located in Kota Kinabalu,” he said, adding it was now up to the chief minister to make a decision. -FMT