Watch out for land scam
17/10/2007 The Star

JOHOR BARU: The Iskandar Development Region (IDR) is not only a magnet for foreign investors but also land scam syndicates.

Nusajaya assemblyman Abdul Aziz Sapian said several groups believed to be members of a syndicate had been visiting several villages to coax them into handing over their land for development.

“The syndicate members would impersonate officers responsible for developing the IDR and would normally visit the villagers at night,” he told Bernama recently.

They would ask the villagers to sell their land at a low price, claiming that it was earmarked for development by the government and that they would not be compensated if the government acquired the land later.

He said the syndicate members were focusing on Nusajaya because the land price at strategic locations had skyrocketed to as high as RM500,000 per acre.

Their areas of interest include Tanjung Kupang, Kampung Tiram Duku and Kampung Bukit Tempurong.

He urged villagers in Nusajaya and its vicinity not to fall prey to the syndicate but to seize the opportunities created by the IDR.

The IDR is a special economic area covering 2,300 sq km, which is twice the size of Singapore and includes Johor Baru, Pontian and Kota Tinggi districts.