AUDIT REPORT | The latest auditor-general's report has revealed that two land offices in Johor had massive delays in processing temporary occupation license (TOL) applications.

The duration to process TOL applications as set in the client's charter is four months, but the audit found that the Batu Pahat and Mersing land offices had delays that lasted up to 108 months, or 3,261 days.

The Auditor-General's Report 2016 Series 2, which was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today, stated that the Batu Pahat land office exceeded the four-month processing period from 11 to 98 months.

Further checks on 20 case files revealed that the delays were due to the land office delaying all levels of the application process.

Meanwhile, the Mersing land office exceeded the set processing period of six months to 108 months.

Checks on 15 case files in Mersing showed that the processing delays were due to the same reason.

According to the report, external factors were also at play in some instances, such as delayed reports received from the technical department.

However, it was also revealed that for both Batu Pahat and Mersing, none of the applications they received were processed within the four-month period.

The report recommended identifying a mechanism to resolve these outstanding applications as soon as possible.

It also recommended that the TOL application status is examined in monthly meetings, to ensure they are completed within the period stipulated in the client’s charter.