Officials share blame for rampant abuse of government land
Lack of enforcement action and bureaucratic inertia serve only to encourage illegal occupation of public property
Currently, officials are empowered to reclaim occupied sites when the period for rectification expires. But offenders may continue to occupy the land by applying for short-term tenancy or temporary waiver of conditions of leases, with approvals sometimes taking years rather than 24 weeks as stipulated under internal guidelines. What’s more absurd is that enforcement action is suspended once an application has been made.
That explains why land abuses have become so rampant. In one case, a cafe has ignored complaints from local residents to illegally operate rent-free in the open area of a village for almost 20 years. The average waiting time for approval for short-term tenancy has ranged from 13 to 19 months in recent years. The loss of rental income arising from the delay could be significant.
The government has sought to dispel the impression that all breaches would be allowed to continue, saying some 60 per cent of applications had been rejected. But with one in three cases approved, the percentage is still uncomfortably high.