Felda Group chairperson Isa Samad says the government is right to list Felda Global Ventures Holdings Sdn Bhd (FGVH) on Bursa Malaysia.     

This is because Felda is facing stiff competition from Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam which have shifted focus to the oil palm plantation sector.     

"Indonesia recently announced that the country's 15 large oil palm plantations are focusing on planting one billion hectares of land with the crop.     

"Malaysia is small compared to neighbouring countries which can emerge as  leaders in world palm oil production in the near future.     

"The listing of FGVH is a new approach and will profit settlers over the long term," he said when met at the Replanting Scheme Incentive presentation ceremony at Kerteh 2 Central Training in Dungun today.

A total of 393 settlers from four Felda schemes in Terengganu received RM1.4mil aid with each receiving RM4,000.     

Of the total, 158 settlers were from Felda Selasih, 51 from Felda Jerangau Barat, 130 from Felda Tenang and 54 from Felda Kerteh 6.     

Isa reminded settlers to be wary of opposition lies and manipulation of   FGVH listing to smear the the good name of Felda and the government.     

"Prime Minister Najib Razak has stressed that the rights and interests of settlers will continue to be protected by majority shareholder Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF).     

"KPF members will enjoy higher dividends after listing of FGVH shares as the business conduct wil be more transparent and orderly.    

"FGVH will continue to focus on business management while Felda will continue to safeguard the welfare of settlers and ensure harvest of higher  quantity and quality," he added.     

Goodies galore for settlers

On another matter, Isa said Felda has added RM200 million to its loan facility for settlers to build and repair their houses.       

He said the settlers were entitled to borrow up to RM40,000 depending on the extent of restoration, and 5,000 of the 10,000 applications have already been processed.      

"This interest-free loan is among the facilities that we provide to enable the settlers to live in a comfortable home.      

"Felda can fork out this sizeable amount because it does not have any cash flow problem and the settlers will settle the repayments according to the time frame we set," he said.    

Mohd Isa said Felda would call for the tender to construct more than 4,000 units of houses for second-generation Felda settlers throughout the country.      

He said the house ownership programme for Felda's next generation was aimed at sustaining their participation in further developing the community's economy.     

According to him, Felda had drawn up two programmes for the purpose.      

"Firstly, building homes and selling them to the second generation - the unit price depends on location and prevailing market price. But we will ensure that it is reasonable."  

He said the housing project was already in progress at Felda Tenang near Kota Tinggi, Johor, while a few similar projects would follow suit.      

"The second step is to find idle land. Once we find it and obtain approval from the state government, we'll proceed with the construction," he added.      

- Bernama