28/07/2012 (Bernama) - 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 Friday.

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.