4/5/06 9 Sabah Daily Express)  -  OIL palm plantation owners encroaching onto riparian areas must immediately vacate these areas or risk being penalised.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the plantation owners should realise that their actions would jeopardise the water resources and can affect the water catchment.

"There has never been approval to plant oil palm right up to the river bank. They have encroached into the state land reserves," he said.

He said the Government had received reports on the matter and appropriate steps would be taken to prevent riverine reserves being encroached.

"The enforcement under the Land and Survey Department as well as Drainage and Irrigation Department will take the necessary action," he said.

Musa also expressed the State's condolences to the family of former Deputy Prime Minister the late Tun Ghafar Baba.

"Ghafar had contributed so much to the development of Sabah," he said.

Meanwhile, Musa said the Cabinet meeting was held here to make it easier for all State ministers to welcome the arrival of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Also discussed during the meeting was his recent trade visit to India.