LCDA, Samling to develop 80,000ha land

KUCHING: Some 80,000 hectares of land in Baram and Belaga districts will be developed into oil palm plantations following a
joint-venture
agreement signed between the state Land Consolidation and Development
Authority (LCDA) and private developer Samling Oil Palm Sdn Bhd and
Samling Properties Sdn Bhd here today.

At the signing ceremony,
witnessed by Sarawak Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut
Masing, LCDA was represented by General Manager Datuk Dr Sulaiman
Husaini and Samling Oil Palm by Chief Operating Officer James Ho Yam
Kuan.

Masing in his speech said the oil palm plantation in
Belaga covers about 38,683 hectares comprising 32,230.2 hectares of
state land and 6,452.8 hectares Native Customary Rights (NCR) land.

"This project will benefit a total of 822 families from 21 longhouses in Belaga," he said.






For Baram district, he said, an area of
about 48,527 hectares, comprising 8,289 hectares of NCR land and 40,248
hectares of state land, has been identified.

The plantation
venture is part of the state's NCR land development programme in which
land owners hold 30 per cent equity of the joint venture company with
the private entity taking 60 per cent and LCDA 10 per cent, he added.
-- BERNAMA