KOTA KINABALU: The applications for housing units have been approved for the 45 families residing at a squatter colony in Kinarut and now facing eviction at Jalan Sharif Osman, Luyang, near here.
Liew (wearing hat) with the residents.
Api-Api assemblywoman Christina Liew, who visited the affected squatters yesterday, however said that the applications of 11 other families were not approved.
“Altogether there are 66 affected families at the colony. I hope the authority will consider the applications of the 11 families. I will take it up,” she said.
While the remaining have had their applications approved, the families still do not know the units that have been allocated to them, said Liew.
“They have been given until September 13 before their colony was demolished. That is less than three weeks. I hope the relevant department will speed up the process so that the residents can move out before the deadline. There are lot of children and elderly living at the squatter area,” she said.
“It would be tragic for them to be evicted before the houses are ready.”
Visitors were told that most of the families are Christians although there are also some Muslim families, all of whom are locals of Dusun descent.
“They don’t like to squat here but they have nowhere else to go,” Liew said.
She then thanked Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir for giving the residents some time to move out and Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Hajiji Haji Noor for processing the applications for the housing units in Kinarut for the families.