A total of 179 land titles in this district are targeted for compulsory acquisition to make way for the Pan Borneo Highway project.

The lands are related to Package 7 of the billion-ringgit project. This package is the construction of the Kota Kinabalu Outer Ring Road from Kg Ketiau in Putatan to the Berungis Roundabout in Tuaran, a distance of about 41.2km.

A part of it - about 9.9km - passes through villages between Inanam and Sepanggar such as Kg Pomotodon, Tabilong, Kg Matadon, Kg Tebobon and Kg Dambai, in Menggatal.

Other villages involved are Kg Pulutan, Kg Nasai, Kg Mansiang, Kg Tagong, Kg Kaliangau and Kg Matadan.

The authorities met with affected land owners in a session at the Menggatal community hall on Thursday, 1 February, where the notices of acquisition were handed over.

In a statement, the Land and Survey Department said the handing over of the notices was to satisfy the requirement of the law governing compulsory acquisition.

"It's part of the legal procedure. The Land and Survey Department, the Public Works Department and the Borneo Highway PDH Sdn Bhd has organised this session to brief the land owners and to hand over the notices.”

A total of 476 land owners were targeted for the briefing as part of the efforts to address land acquisition issues so that construction work can proceed.

The acquisition process started last Nov 30 in accordance with Section 3 of the Land Ordinance governing land acquisition.

The Kota Kinabalu Outer Ring Road is made up of three packages - Putatan-Inanam (19.6km), Inanam-Sepanggar (9.9km) and Sepanggar-Bulatan Berungis (11.7km).

Construction of Package 7 started this Jan 15 and is due for completion in three years.

The Land and Survey Department will be reaching out to the other land owners who did not attend yesterday's meeting where owners of land located within Package 6 - Kg Kawakaan, Minintod, Bantayan, Tindai and Kitobu - also received their notices of acquisition.

Land owners may come to the Land and Survey Department office in Kota Kinabalu to collect their notices.