Another NCR Land Robbery By PELITA

Sime Derby Plantation Sdn. Bhd. is allocating RM 100million to develop the NCR lands in Julau.

With this new JV, more Ibans are going to lose their NCR Lands. Eventually their income from the rubber trees planted in the NCR lands will be shrunk. The assumption is made based on the blogger experience with the JV in Sg Tenggang.

Based on BERNAMA report published by Borneo Post , about 20 hectares of NCR land will be involved in the JV. Please read the article below on the proposed JV between Sime Derby Plantation Sdn. Bhd and the NCR Land owners from Julau. Borneo Post, Friday 10th July 2009. RM100m for NCR land Development. Sime Darby set to work on 20,000ha Julau land in oil palm joint venture deal Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd is set to invest an initial RM100 million to develop oil palm plantations on Native Customary Rights (NCR) lands in Julau, about 55 kilometres from here. Its Plantation Agency and Consultation head Mohd Helmy Othman Basha said the project would cover an area of about 20,000 hectares.

“This is our first project in Sarawak and incidentally on the state’s Native Customary Rights land. “The project will be in a joint venture with landowners from 109 longhouses in three areas namely KJD/Lower Julau, Sungai Julau/Sungai Pitoh and Merurun/Meluan/Entabai,” he told reporters yesterday.

Representing the landowners at the joint venture agreement signing ceremony at a community hall here was the Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA). Present was Land Development Minister Dato Sri Dr James Jemut Masing. Helmy said the preparatory work would begin after Sime Darby had done and submitted the Social and Environmental Impact Assessment report to the authority concerned.

“We expect to begin in a month’s time after this. However, we are very pleased that so far there have been very positive responses from the landowners concerned.

“But we will continue to explain the joint venture concept further and to more others. Let the people have very clear understanding for them to appreciate and accept, and for us to proceed smoothly,” he said.

In the joint venture, Sime Darby will hold 60 per cent equity while the landowners 30 per cent and LCDA 10 per cent. Helmy said the target was for Sime Darby to develop around 50,000 hectares in Sarawak and another 50,000 hectares in Sabah. In a speech earlier, Masing told people in the area not to doubt Sime Darby’s ability.

“We are looking at a very well established and leading multinational conglomerate which has about 100 years’ experience in developing not only oil palm but also rubber plantations in Sabah and the peninsula.

“Sime Darby too has more than 560,000 hectares under oil palm plantations in the country and in Indonesia,” he said. I am very optimistic of the success of this joint venture provided the land-owners concerned give their fullest cooperation to Sime Darby and LCDA which is looking after their rights and interests,” he added.

Masing said a representative chosen from among the landowners would be appointed to sit on the joint venture’s board of management to keep them informed on any latest developments. He said the landowners would stand to gain as through the plantation they could find jobs and business opportunities and receive dividends and bonuses when the crop is harvested.

“Best of all, each individual landowner will know the exact size and location of his or her land which will be officially recognised,” he said Mupok Aku

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