The Sultan of Johor has consented to handing over his land in Bukit Chagar to the government without any cost if the land is involved in the Rapid Transit System (RTS) project.
- Land was supposed to be transferred to federal government in 2010 in exchange for federal land in Tanjung Puteri
- Transfer never happened, land eventually ended up in the hands of Johor ruler
- Change of title for land took place under BN administration
- Johor sultan paid RM0 in quit rent
- Sultan Ibrahim claims unaware he owns land involved in RTS project
According to the Johor sultan’s confidential secretary, Datuk Jaba Mohd Noah, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar was disappointed about a news report connecting the issue of an increase in the cost of the RTS project with a piece of land belonging to him in Bukit Chagar.
He said that, until now, Sultan Ibrahim had never been informed that the land belonging to him would be involved in the RTS project.
“Nevertheless, Sultan Ibrahim had said, if it is indeed true that the land belonging to him in Bukit Chagar is involved for the RTS project, he is willing to hand over the land to the government without any cost,” he said.
Datuk Jaba added that the Johor ruler had set the condition that the RTS project must be continued quickly, as he understood the suffering of the people commuting to Singapore.
“This is on the condition, the RTS project must be continued quickly because Tuanku truly understands the suffering of the people who are forced to commute to Singapore,’’ he said in the Sultan of Johor Facebook, today.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday said that the federal government would demand back its land in Bukit Chagar if it was true that its ownership had been given to the Sultan of Johor without going through the proper process.
“If he has paid, we have to buy back. But if he hasn’t, we won’t. It is our land. We have to make our claim that the land is ours,” Dr Mahathir said.
A news report which quoted a source claiming that the ownership of the land had been changed to that of the Sultan of Johor also claimed that the Johor Land and Mines Department found out about the change in ownership on Jan 28.
Free Malaysia Today reported that Sultan Ibrahim said he has never been informed of any change of title for the 4.5-hectare plot.
Documents sighted by FMT among others state that the change of title for the plot took place under the Barisan Nasional administration.
They also reveal that the land has now been leased out for three years till November 2020 to a company to operate a parking lot.
Malaysiakini reported that the land was transferred to the Johor sultan just two days after he consented to the RTS realignment.
In an exclusive interview published in the New Straits Times on Aug 7, 2017, Sultan Ibrahim had expressed “serious reservations” about the RTS design.
A day later, Putrajaya scrambled to address the Johor ruler’s concern. The then minister in the Prime Minister Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan promised to seek an audience with the monarch.
This culminated in an announcement on Nov 17, 2017, by the Land Public Transport Commission (Spad). It said it had sought an audience with the Johor ruler on Sept 19, and taken into account his feedback on the realignment.
As a result of the realignment, the initial estimate of RM4 billion for the RTS project climbed to RM5.3 billion.
Two days later on Nov 19, 2017, Lot PTB 23354 – the 4.5-hectare land in Bukit Chagar that will be used for the RTS project – was transferred to the Johor sultan.
The Johor ruler paid RM0 in quit rent, according to a land search.
The Johor government was supposed to transfer Lot PTB 23354 to the Federal Land Commissioner in 2010. This was in exchange for federal land in Tanjung Puteri for the construction of the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex.
However, a Johor Land and Mines Department report on who owned the Bukit Chagar lot sighted by Malaysiakini, indicates that the transfer to the Federal Land Commissioner never happened and the land eventually ended up in the hands of the Johor ruler.
The RTS will also pass through another 2.4-ha undersea land named Lot 45419, which came under the ownership of the Johor sultan on August 17, 2014.
This was also verified by a land search. Likewise, the quit rent was RM0.
Of the RM5.3 billion revised project cost, about 13 per cent or RM 693.7 million will go towards compensating the Johor ruler for the two parcels of land that ended up in the monarch’s hands after the RTS realignment.
In a statement today, the Johor sultan said through his private secretary Jaba Mohd Noah that he was unaware he owns land involved in the RTS project.
If it is true that his land was involved in the project, he said he consents to have it surrendered to the government without cost.
The land in question referred to by the Johor sultan is Lot PTB 23354, which would have cost the government RM495.3 million.
No mention was made about Lot 45419, which will cost the government RM198.4 million.
The RTS project, signed in 2018, was scheduled for construction this year and expected to be completed by December 2024.
It covers 4km between Bukit Chagar, Johor Baru, and Woodlands, Singapore, with the capacity to ferry 10,000 passengers an hour.
The project will run above ground in Johor and on a 25m-high bridge across the straits before going underground to Woodlands North.
Earlier, it was speculated that the RTS project might be shelved indefinitely after Malaysia requested a six-month deadline extension.
As the project is also a bilateral issue, Putrajaya has until September before going back to Singapore on how it wishes to proceed with the project, which is presently stalled due to the land issue.