Kampung Gana villagers urge for resettlement project to be expedited

KOTA MARUDU, June 30-- Over 4,000 villagers of Kampung Gana near here, are appealing to the authorities that the Gana Resettlement Integrated Development Project Scheme be continued, after being put on hold for four years.

Kampung Garong Village Management Council chairman Jukiah Masajok, the villagers’ representative said, the first phase of the project should have been completed at the end of last year, but construction works were left abandoned.

“How long more do we have to wait? Our makeshift houses are starting to deteriorate and some of us have no choice but to build our own houses,” he said when met by Bernama here recently.

It is learned that the first phase of the Felcra Berhad project under the supervision of the Kota Murudu District Office involved the construction of 150 houses with an allocation of RM2.4 million.

While waiting for the project completion, the affected villagers were placed in 30 transit homes. However as the area was too overcrowded and with insufficient farming space, some were forced to construct temporary shelters elsewhere.

Meanwhile, a villager Jubirin Salupan said the project had been left hanging far too long and hoped the relevant parties would carry out their responsibilities in completing the project.

"My family and several others are living in shacks without electricity and water supply," he said.

Meanwhile, Kota Marudu district officer Arnold Joibi said a steering committee had been established to monitor the development project, adding that construction works would resume soon.

The resettlement scheme was implemented in 1997 for the benefit of people from 10 villages,  among them Gana, Kipopogong, Taguhu, Garong and Minsusurud, all located in the Limpabau Forest Reserve area.

-- BERNAMA