KUCHING: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Sarawak Land and Survey Department and Remote Sensing Agency Malaysia (ARSM) yesterday.
Through the MoU, both organisations will collaborate to produce the Land Map of Sarawak Second Edition using the latest remote sensing data and image for the next five years.
The Sarawak Land and Survey Department first collaborated with ARSM in 2009, and through the collaboration, a pioneer project which covered Matang, Sibu and Kapit areas was successfully implemented.
That project had produced the satellite image maps and the ground-level vector data for the areas.
The result of the success of that project led to the signing of the Note of Collaboration between JTSS and ARSM in 2011.
After that, the Land and Survey Department successfully produced Sarawak Land Map First Edition 2014.
Through the publication of the land map, the Land and Survey Department was able to replace the Land Use Map of Sarawak and Brunei published in 1957.
The memorandum of collaboration between the Land and Survey Department and ARSM expired in 2016 and was renewed by upgrading the Note of Collaboration to Memorandum of Understanding yesterday for a period of five years
The signing of the MoU at Pullman Hotel here was witnessed by Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Hasan, who is also Second Minister of Urban Development & Natural Resources.
Tengah, who also officiated at the opening of a Seminar on the Empowerment of Remote Sensing Technology For The People’s Wellbeing and The Sustainability of National Security at Imperial Hotel here yesterday, said the Remote Sensing Technology was used not only by the Department of Land and Survey but also the Agriculture Department for the Jelapang Padi IADA Batang Lupar Project.
“I hope the other departments in the state will also use Remote Sensing Technology to improve their services to the people,” he added.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Azhar Bin Hj Yahaya, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), in his speech, said more than 25 system and package applications had been developed and were in full operation.
He said the development of the 25 highly impact application systems at a low cost had not only saved the government money but also guaranteed data security of strategic value.
The development and operation of these systems and package applications are based on the use of remote sensing technology and other related technologies such as Geography Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS) and most developed ICT.
Azhar said the system and packaged applications had been used by more than 55 government agencies covering nine main fields of application, namely, agriculture and fisheries, natural resources and environment, monitoring and land development, evaluation and property management, environmental audit and physical development, health and environment, plantations and commodities, disasters management as well as security and national defence.
The seminar was attended by 200 participants from federal government agencies, states and local government in Sarawak.
