2/2/06 MIRI(The Star)   - The people of Ulu Teru district in remote northern Sarawak invested their hard-earned money 10 years ago to buy oil palm seedlings for a project.

But till now, they have not been able to plant the seedlings – all because of red tape. 

This has got Marudi state assemblyman Sylvester Entri Muran fuming because the entire project is about to go to waste. 

“This project was started in 1996 but the 50,000 seedlings remained unplanted because the environmental impact assessment report has not been approved by the Natural Resources and Environment Board.

“A lot of money and effort had been put in by the landowners, the Land Custody and Development Authority, and other investors into the project.

“The seedlings will have to be thrown away if they are not planted within the next few months. They will all have rotted,” he said during a visit to the project site in Ulu Teru in the Miri division here.

Entri, who is also state assistant minister for Water Supply, said the Ulu Teru project was encouraged by the state government as part of efforts to help the communities living in isolated interior regions.

“This sort of red tape must be removed. There must be proactive steps taken by the relevant agencies to overcome delays such as this so as not to jeopardise the interests of rural folk and those trying to improve the lot of these people,” he said.