By Farah Wahida:
Kampung Baru Pokok Assam is a quiet new village in Taiping which is why it was shocking to know that land premium rates there were more than double the rates in more developed villages in Ipoh.
According to 61-year-old Ooi Kok Seng, who renewed his land title in 2011, he was “horrified to discover that the land premium for my wooden house, which sits on a 381sqm piece of land, was RM12,573.”
He said it was impossible for him to come out with so much money as he was a retiree and so decided to seek help of Pokok Assam Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Ho Cheng Wang who told him to delay renewing his title as long as possible.
Ho told me that he was aware of the exorbitant land premiums that villagers were being charged and had already written to the Larut, Matang and Selama Land and District Office over the matter,” he said.
After an anxious wait, I was informed a few months later that the land premium had been reduced to RM4,953, which was much more reasonable compared to the previous am-ount.”
Ho added that he became aware of the excessive land premium rates in Pokok Assam after his move to help a Kampung Simee resident from Ipoh to solve her land premium dilemma in mid-2011.
It was then that I discovered that the villager from Ipoh was only paying RM130 per sqm for her land whereas in Pokok Assam, the rate was RM330 per sqm,” Ho said.
It was unacceptable as Kampung Simee was surrounded by so much development as compared to Pokok Assam and yet, we had to pay more than twice the land premium rate of villagers staying in Ipoh.”
Ho’s effort also led to reduced land premium rates up to 60 percent in three other new villages with effect from December 2011.
Farah Wahida, Editor of PropertyGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email farahwahida@propertyguru.com.my
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