How much would Ijok land cost if sold in open tender?
(Berita Daily) – In 1998, the land in Ijok was granted by the BN government in Selangor to the settlers for free.
In 2000, the settlers gave the land to private developer Khairuddin Abu Hassan (then an Umno man) who is a strong supporter of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, now the chairman of Pakatan Harapan.
In return, they were promised a compensation of RM180,000 in cash and a house.
Nothing moved in the project from 2000 to 2008 until it came under the jurisdiction of the Pakatan government after the general election in 2008.
In 2009, the Pakatan-led state government under then menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim seized the land under the National Land Code.
In 2013, the private companies given the land sued the Selangor government where the case was brought to the High Court. Nevertheless, the companies lost the case.
In 2014, the private companies appealed against the decision at the Courts of Appeal. However, they lost again.
In the same year, Khalid was toppled by Azmin Ali following an internal PKR purge. Azmin was then sworn in as the new menteri besar of Selangor.
The following year, in 2015, although they have lost twice in court and the land was no longer under their name, the private companies sold the land to a public listed company for RM1.18 billion.
In 2016, prior to the appeal at the Federal Court, the state government under Azmin filed a settlement agreement stating the Selangor government and the two companies had reached an agreement to annul the case. The land was then surrendered the companies.
In 2018, a compensation of RM180,000 in cash and a house were given to the settlers. The total amount of compensation given to the settlers was RM420 million despite the private company receiving RM1.18 billion from the sale of the land belonging to the settlers.
Last week, BN Strategic Communications (BNSC) raised this issue and queried Azmin’s swift decision of giving up the land despite having won twice in their trial.
BNSC also questioned on the remaining RM756 million from the sales of the land. It wanted to know if it was fair for the settlers to only receive RM421 million from the total sales of RM1.18 billion by the private company.
Following this, former MB Khalid – now no longer with PKR, but aligned to PAS and Umno – claimed that many brokers and agents wanted to assist in the land issue by taking care of the interests of the private company involved. However, he rejected their offers as they did not care about the rights of the settlers.
Khalid also slammed Azmin for his actions as it was at the disadvantage for Selangor and he wanted everyone involved to be investigated.
The sale of the land at RM12 per square foot also raised a lot of questions as the area was seeing rapid development with the opening of LATAR highway.
Similar lands are being sold at RM40 to RM65 per square foot at present. As such, questions are being asked if the rate of RM12 per square foot was too low? What would be the rate of the land if it was sold in open tender?
