KENINGAU: About 40 years ago, a group of villagers applied for 2,275 hectares of land for agricultural purposes in Nabawan, located in a rural district of Sabah.
However, the land was left idle because the group did not have the know-how to develop it themselves.
In 2011, the Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB), a state government agency, brought the much-needed help to the rural people by introducing the Projek Mesra Rakyat (PMR) (People Friendly Project).
About 474 hectares of the total land area which was formerly covered with secondary jungle has now been developed into a scheme, ‘Ladang Skim Nabawan’ in which 289 locals, mostly from the Murut community, will participate.
Newly-appointed SLDB chairman Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail, who visited the scheme yesterday, was very impressed with the state government agency’s initiatives, which is basically a poverty eradication scheme, especially to help the rural poor.
“This (SLDB’s success in implementing the PMR project) is very impressive and beyond my expectation.
“I have full confidence that SLDB will succeed in bringing a whole new level of service and meaningful economic transformation to the rural poor,” he told Bernama after a briefing by Michael Philip, the project’s senior manager.
The former state agriculture and food industry minister also visited the Pandewan Estate, another SLDB’s PMR project which has an area of 2,178ha, of which 1,112.53 was planted with oil palm. — Bernama