KUCHING, May 23: The lure of the oil and gas industry has contributed to the booming squatter populations in Miri.
Pujut assemblyman, Adam Yii, said this has led to the influx of rural-urban migration in recent years, especially along the Sungai Baong riverbank.
“Over the years, our Sarawak government has made many attempts to resettle them,” said Yii in his maiden speech in the August house.
He said currently, there are about 690 households in his constituency that needed to be relocated and the only alternative at present is to allocate them a piece of land or by giving them a lot.
“Based on my observation, this arrangement is not ideal because these squatters have to rebuild their houses using recycled materials from the old house due to financial constraints,” Yii said.
He added that the new house is also not provided with proper infrastructure like road access, electricity and water.
“The relocation has in fact added financial burdens to them,” he quipped.
To counter this, Yii suggested the building of low cost housing for the squatters to improve upon their living conditions.
Additionally, Yii said N74 Pujut was outside of the development mainstream for the past 10 years under DAP’s rule. – TVS
