The Sarawak Land and Survey Department has completed its survey of two pieces of land in the Bakong sub-district here to implement the new longhouse concept pioneer project.     

Miri Land and Survey superintendent Rozlan Putit told Bernama today that survey plans on the land occupied by Rumah Chabu and Rumah Collin Sait were now pending approval from the department's headquarters in Kuching.     

Once approved, he said, individual titles would be issued to each owner of the longhouse lots, apart from gazetting their 'payung rumah' as native communal reserves.     

The 'payung rumah' refers to the compound area of each longhouse which would serve as common land shared by longhouse folks.     

The department is jointly working with the Sarawak Housing and Urban Development Ministry which came up with the new concept last year.     

The minister, Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, when mooting the idea of the new longhouse concept last year, said ownership title was one of its unique features to facilitate owners to apply for housing loans.     

Currently, most longhouses in the state are built on lands without titles, posing problems to the residents, in terms of applying for housing loans or having their homes insured.     

The problems of longhouse folks escalated, especially during disasters like fire, where they could only rely on their own savings, government assistance or public sympathy to rebuild their homes, apart from being displaced.     

- Bernama