The proprietor of the supermarket occupying what was once a cinema building in China Street in Miri, Sarawak has been waiting for five years for approval of his application to put up a commercial building.

Khor Ooi Long, managing partner of Nam Leong Fashion Trading, located on 39 China Street in downtown Miri said he bought the cinema building which is sitting on some 11,000 sq feet of prime commercial land surrounded by two-storey shophouses in old Miri town from the previous owners after the cinema business closed down.

The building formerly housed the Cathay cinema which was built during the colonial days.

"I then applied to the Land and Survey Department for planning approval to put up a new commercial building," he told malaysiakini. "Till today I am still waiting for the approval."

In the meantime, while waiting for approval so that he could knock down the old cinema building and replace it with a new and modern building, he is using it as a supermarket.

But several nearby shops selling the same goods have been complaining, questioning the Miri Municipal Council (MMC) for allowing the business to carry on when the land on which the present structure stands is commercial but is only for the purpose of a cinema in its title conditions.

A MMC official, when contacted, said the matter concerns the Land and Survey Department rather than the council.

"The council is only concerned with compliance with health and fire requirements and whether the goods on sale spill over to the five-foot-way that would cause traffic obstruction," he added.

The matter was raised at the recent sitting of the State Legislative Assembly by the sole opposition state assemblyperson Chiew Chin Sing who had received complaints from several shop-owners questioning why the authorities were condoning the violations of land issue condition by the supermarket owner.

Replying to Chiew's question, Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, then an Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office and now Second Resource Management and Planning Minister, said the state government was aware of the situation and looking into it.

Why the long wait

Meanwhile, Khor told malaysiakini that he could not understand why it was taking so long for the authorities to approve his application.

"No, they have not said they are rejecting the application. (But) I understand from my consultants that the State Planning Authority (SPA) have laid down certain conditions, and I am not aware what these conditions are."

In Sarawak, change in title conditions in terms of land use requires approval from the SPA.

However in the last ten years, applications for planning approval for commercial projects are approved by the SPA which is chaired by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. Previously it was under the purview of the Director of Land and Survey,

Khor said as far as he is aware many cinemas which have closed because of poor business have been turned into supermarkets. "This has been allowed in other parts of Sarawak and even Peninsular Malaysia."

In Miri, another cinema, the former Rex, was given a new planning approval about seven years ago for a high-rise commercial cum office complex - Wisma Yu Lan developed by Sarawak businessman Ting Pek Khiing and named after his wife.

Yet another former cinema building in Lutong near Miri which formed part of a land already alienated to Sarawak Shell Berhad is now used as a church.

Another former cinema building in Sibu has also been converted into a supermarket cum departmental store.