The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) is willing to work together with the Sarawak government to develop idle native customary rights (NCR) lands, said its chairman Mohd Isa Abdul Samad.
He said Felda had no objections working with any state including Sarawak in turning idle lands into plantations.
“We (Felda) depend on land, if the state government offers land, we are willing to develop them into rubber or oil palm plantations like what we have done in the peninsula,” he told reporters after meeting settlers of Felda Sempadi today.
He said so far no firm discussions had been made on the matter but Felda would pursue it further after the Sarawak state election on Saturday, following Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib’s statement in Miri recently that he (Taib) welcomed joint ventures between Felda and locals in developing NCR lands for oil palm cultivation.
According to Isa, Felda currently had only one oil palm plantation in Sarawak covering a size of 7,650 hectare which is not NCR land in Sempadi.
– Bernama
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