APPENDIX 2

FEDERAL LAND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (FELDA)

A. Background

FELDA was established in July 1956 as a Federal Statutory Body under the Land Development Ordinance No. 20, 1956. Originally set up to channel funds into development of the remoter parts of the country, it has since 1960 been directly responsible for the actual development ranging from land clearing, planting of main crops development of villages, selection and implacement of settlers, management of projects, provision of credit, processing, marketing service and facilitating social and community development.

B. Organisational Structure

The FELDA Group now comprises FELDA itself, 8 FELDA corporations and 6 joint-venture companies with a total staff force of over 19,000 people as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Staff of FELDA Group (1983)

a) Felda HQs, State Offices, Projects, Training Centres

Basically, the FELDA Organisation is classified into two divisions, the Operations Division and the Services Division. The Operations Division is further classified into 6 services while the Services Division is broken down into several services such as Finance, Personnel and Administration, Management, Budget and Planning, Engineering, Processing, Survey, Land and Settler Emplacement and Data Processing.

C. Functions

FELDA's main role is to eradicate poverty and uplift the living standard of the rural folk. This is done through performing the following functions.

1. To develop unused land (forest) for agriculture and settlement;

2. To relocate suitable landless or almost landless people to these lands;

3. To organize and implement systematic development of land through the provision of licensing, credit facilities and management services;

4. To construct and operate modern processing facilities in order for settlers to obtain better returns;

5. To guide the development of settler communities so that their attitudes and sense of values are consistent with the developmental needs;

D) Achievements

Until March 1984, FELDA has carried out a total of 235 projects covering 655,828 ha of land. (See Table 2).

Land Development has so far been concentrated mainly on rubber and oil palm, cocoa, sugarcan and coffee plantation have also been established. Table 3 shows the area developed by the end of 1982 and the production area and yield of crops in 1981 and 1982.

A total of 90,471 families have been resettled in FELDA Schemes by September 1985 comprising 53,384 (59%) oil palm 36,498 (40.3%) rubber and 589 (0.7%) sugarcane and 143 (0.2%) cocoa schemes. Table 2 shows the number of settlers in each state of Malaysia.

E. Project Management

Until the first harvest, each settler is provided subsistence allowance by FELDA in the form of a loan. Subsistence allowance is also be given to the settler's family members if they work on the project. Generally, a settler's family can earn about $200–$250 per month through subsistence allowance. When the crop is harvested, the provision of subsistence allowance is suspended and deduction of various expenses as well as the loan will be made on from the settler's income. The repayment period of the loan is normally 15 years. The settler's income varies according to the size of the land and the types of crop as shown below.

The settlers' welfare is also well taken car of. FELDA has carried out aid programmes in the form of children's education, education funds, social cultural clubs and other activities. On the commercial sides, FELDA provides the settlers with facilities such as the harvesting, transportation, processing and marketing of their crops. FELDA for example now has 38 palm oil mills in operation and 13 more mills under construction. (See Table 5)

F. Selection Criteria

Candidates for FELDA project must satisfy the following requirements.

1. Malaysian Citizen
2. Age between 18–40
3. Married
4. Must own less than 2 acres of land or no land at all
5. Physically fit (not handicapped).

G. Share System

A new share system has been implemented by FELDA for those who joined FELDA schemes after the 1st of January 1985. Under this system, settlers are no longer given land titles but given shares on the land instead. Incomes will be generated from the working on the land as well as owner shares in the form of a dividend.

H. Other Activities

Corporations and Joint-Ventures

By 1984, FELDA had established 8 fully owned corporations as well as 6 joint-ventures with the private sector to assist settlers in various ways. These are:

a) Corporations

1. Trading Corporation - established in 1972 to operate retail trade in FELDA schemes.

2. Marketing Corporation - established in 1974 to handle all sales of rubber and palm products produced by FELDA schemes.

3. Latex Handling Corporation - established in 1974 to handle installation and export of latex concentrate.

4. Transport Corporation - established in 1975 to handle transportation of latex concentrate and palm oil.

5. Mill Corporation - established in 1975 to manage all processing facilities of palm oil and rubber.

6. Security Corporation - established in 1976 to provide security services for FELDA and its other subsidiaries.

7. Agriculture Corporation - established in 1978 to provide agricultural services for FELDA and its subsidiaries.

8. Construction Corporation - established in 1980 to undertake physical agricultural development and construction for FELDA.

b) Joint Ventures

1. Kilang Gula FELDA Perlis - established in 1971 with Perlis Plantation Berhad to mill and refine sugar grown in that region.

2. FELDA Johore Bulkers Sdn.Bhd. - established in 1974 with 12 palm oil producers ro provide storage and export facilities for palm oil.

3. FELDA Oil Products Sdn.Bhd - established with Mitsui Company Ltd., and Asahi Denka Kogyo K.K. to refine and fractionate palm oil.

4. FPM Sdn. Bhd. - established in 1980 with Behn Meyr and KPM Niager to produce granulated fertilizers.

5. MCM Sdn. Bhd. - established with Nestle S.A to manufacture cocoa based food products using raw materials from FELDA estates.

6. FS Oils Sdn. Bhd. - established in 1981 with N.V.Safinco of Belgium to manufacture palm oil based cooking oils, ghee and margarine.

Due to the increasing number of operations of the Mill Corporation, FELDA has recently established 3 more corporations to streamline the operation. These are:

• Rubber Industry Corporation to process rubber produced by FELDA

• Palm Kernel Corporation to process palm kernel and to manage the installation;

• Refinery Corporation to process crude palm oil.

Federal Land Consolidation & Rehabilitation Authority (FELCRA)

A. Background

FELCRA was established under the National Land Rehabilitation and Consolidation Authority (Incorporation) Act, 1966. FELCRA is a national body and thus its activities are spread throughout the country.

B. Organisational Structure

The FELCRA organisation is briefly categorized into General Administration, General Operations and 5 Regional Divisions as shown below:

- General Administration
Administrative & Personnel
Finance
Planning/Evaluation

While the objective (b) can be achieved by:-

1. reducing the economic disparities through increasing income and employment for the poorest groups and more specifically the Bumiputras;

2. creating employment oportunities particularly in agriculture; and

3. promoting an overall economic growth;

- General Operations
Engineering
Agriculture
Settler Development
Marketing

- Northern Region
Kedah, Perlis
Perak
Seberang Prai

- Eastern Region
Kelantan
Terengganu

- Central Region
Pahang
Negeri Sembilan

- Southern Region
North Johor
South Johor
Malacca

- Sarawak Region
Sarawak

C. Objectives and Functions

FELCRA's objectives are:

1. to maximize land utilization through intensive land development;

2. to ensure that those in the rural sector have a reasonable income;

3. to improve the social and economic conditions of the settlers.

In order to achieve the objectives, various are carried out.

a) Rehabilitation Scheme

Under this scheme, FELCRA tries to supervise and manage those unsuccessful land development projects run by the State Governments. It is anologous to providing extension services to the settlers as FELCRA has no jurisdiction over the ownership of the land which had been alienated from the settlers to the State Government.

b) Land Consolidation Scheme

Under this scheme, each participant is reallocated with approximately 2.53 ha of land consisting of 1.62 ha (share) of permanent crop, 0.41 ha (share) of cash crop, 0.41 ha. (individual) of orchard, and 0.10 ha (individual) of a housing lot.

To date, 3 projects covering a total area of 587.25 ha at Teratak Batu in Kelantan, at Kampong Kok in the islands of Langkawi, Kedah and at Ulu Brang in the State of Terengganu have been carried out. These pilot projects are designed to serve as a practical approach to solve the problem of idle land and also to provide for land consolidation.

c) Trans-Perak IADP (Integrated Agricultural Development Project Programme)

This programme, covering an area of about 18,551 ha and estimated to cost $480 million, was requested by the State Government to rehabilitate and develop the padi, oil-palm and cocoa areas.

This project may be able to provide an additional 6,900 job opportunities and each settler would be alloted 1.21 ha of padi, 1.21 ha of oil-palm and cocoa and 0.10 ha of a housing lot.

Achievements

By 1982, the total area under cultivation by FELCRA was 92,379 hectares with land use as shown in Table 1:-

Through these schemes, FELCRA has also resettled 13,645 families by the end of 1982 as shown below:

Through these schemes, FELCRA has resettled 13,645 families by the end of 1982 as shown below.

Settler Development

FELCRA continues to give emphasis to settler participation and involvement in its scheme management. Activities in the form of group discussions, dialogue sessions, educational tours, courses and trainings are organised to improve the settlers skills in agriculture.

KEJORA (Johore Tenggara Development Authority)

A. Background

KEJORA is a State land development authority which was established on June 1972 in Johore State in order to develop 303,518 hectares of land as recommended by the Johor Tenggara Master Plan which was formulated in line with the main objectives of the New Economic Policy, which are the reduction of economic disparities, and the creation of employment opportunities as well as the promotion of overal economic growth.

B. Organisational Structure

The Authority board consists of a Chairman appointed by the Agriculture Minister, two representatives of the Federal Government and three representatives of the State Government. The management is divided into 7 divisions: Projects Division, Technical Services Division, Town Planning Division, General Planning Division, Land Division, General Planning Division, Tourism Division and Administration and Finance Division.

C. Objectives and Functions

The two main objectives of KEJORA are:

1. Eradication of Poverty; and

2. Restructuring of the society in order to eliminate the identification of race;

The objective (a) can be achieved through:-

1. raising the productivity and income of those in low productivity occupation;

2. increasing opportunities for intersectoral movements from low to higher productivity activities in newly developed economic sectors;

3. providing a wide range of force or subsidized social services especially designed to raise the living standards of the low income groups;

While the objective (b) can be achieved by:-

1. reducing the economic disparities through increasing income and employment for the poorest groups and more specifically the Bumiputras;

2. creating employment oportunities particularly in agriculture; and

3. promoting an overall economic growth;

Activities and Achievements

As recommended by the Johor Tenggara Master Plan, KEJORA's activities include the followings:

1. Development of 101,092 ha of land which was identified as suitable for agricultural activities such as oil palm, rubber and others;

2. Establishment of an integrated logging and timber complex to produce high quality finished wood products from 37,231 ha of virgin forest in the sub-region of Johor Tengah;

3. Development of a tourist complex along the Tanjung Penggerang coast facing the South China Sea;

4. Creation of new towns and 30 new growth centres to accomodate a population increase of 300,000 by 1990;

5. Provision of basic infrastructural facilities; utilities and social services in the project area.

Of the 101,092 ha of land, KEJORA has developed 16,769 ha of land by 1980 consisting of the followings:

Under the Fourth Malaysia Plan, another 20,072 ha of land will be developed for oil palms, rubber, cocoa and fruit cultivation as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Proposed Plan For Development Under FMP

A joint-venture company between Johore State Economic Development Corporation and KEJORA, Sindora Bhd. was established to exploit the 37,231 ha of virgin forest allocated. By the end of 1980, 12,066 ha of forest were logged producing 482,891 tonnes of timber. In conjunction with this, 2 saw mills, kiln-drying chambers and a timber treatment plant were set up at the Bandar Tenggara Industrial Zone.

E. Tourism/Towns and Growth Centres/Infrastructure Housing And Social Facilities

Two industrial zones have been set up in the two new towns; Bandar Tenggara and Bandar Penawar covering an area of 287 and 63 ha respectively. This involved the setting up of an oil palm mill, manufacturing plants for bottles and cans, animal feedstuff and silica processing.

KEJORA has also completed its first phase construction of the two new towns and a growth centre in Bandar Tenggara, Bandar Penawar and Bandar Mas. Construction for 2 growth centres, Tll and P1 is underway while 8 more centres by FELDAs are being carried out in various stages.

Tourist facilities also have been expanded with the recent construction of a luxury hotel on a joint venture basis with a Japanese investors.

By the end of 1980, KEJORA, in conjunction with FELDA has created 16,410 employment opportunities in the agricultural sector providing the highest number of employment opportunities (10,673 jobs) while the construction sector took second place with 5,005 jobs and other sectors 732 jobs.

Of this, Bumiputera workers constituted 83% of the labour force in the project area.

Pahang Tenggara Development Authority (DARA)

A. Background

DARA is the first Regional Development Authority established under Parliamentary Act No. 68/72 in 1971 to coordinate with other concerned offices the development of the Pahang Tenggara Region with an estimated area of one million hectares. The area covers about ⅓ of the Stae of Pahang and is located in the south eastern part of Pahang.

DARA has successfully developed 22 new settlements with a total land area of 275,000 hectares with agricultural crops mainly oil palm. It has also established industrial with a total area of 26 hectares.

DARA has encouraged and is still encouraging joint-venture companies with foreign as well as local investors to develop Pahang Tenggara. This is very much in line with the recent privatisation policy.

B. Objectives And Functions

In line with the New Economic Policy, the objectives of DARA have been established and are as follows:

1. To develop the agricultural and forest industries using up-to-date technologies and management policies;

2. To encourage the development of new townships and industrial sites in order to provide more employment opportunities;

3. To promote and increase the skills of people with special emphasis on Bumiputeras;

4. To create employment opportunities on a large scale basis;

5. To promote and develop non-agricultural based industries and services;

6. To control and coordinate the performance of the aforesaid activities.

C. Activities And Achievements

With the sources of financing from the public and the private sectors, DARA has developed a total of 173,049 hectares representing 63% of the total area of 274,786 hectares planned for agricultural development (See Table 1).

Forestry

Two joint-venture companies, Perkayuan Tenggara Sdn. Bhd. and Lesong Forest Products Sdn. Bhd, were incorporated to work on the Ibam TFL area (48,600 hectare) and the Lesong TFL areas (56,400 hectares) respectively.

Another company, Syarikat Permodalan Pahang is a pilot logging project in the peat swamp forest at Bebar for its hardwood timber.

For scientific and tourist purposes, four areas of forest totalling 85,200 hectares have been reserved. These are Tasik Cini Games Reserve (3,800 ha), Tasik Bera Games Reserve (26,500 ha) coastal forest (16,200 ha) and the popular Endau-Rompin Plateau (38,700 ha)

Mining

Presently, 3 companies had been incorporated to exploit the granite and clay found in the area.

Job Opportunities

As of at the end of 1983, a total of 23,625 job opportunities had been created in the region. Of this, 17,423 people were absorbed by FELDA Schemes while 4,210 were employed by private sectors including DARA's own joint-ventures and subsidiaries. 81% of this workforce was in agricultural sector while 11% was in commercial and industrial sectors.

As of at the end of 1983, a total of 23,625 job opportunities had been created in the region. Of this, 17,423 people were absorbed by FELDA Schemes while 4,210 were employed by private sectors including DARA's own joint-ventures and subsidiaries. 81% of this workforce was in agricultural sector while 11% was in commercial and industrial sectors.

Currentuly, the area's supply of skilled or semi-skilled labour comes form various vocational training institutions situated just outside the region. These are MARA Vocational Institut at Pekan; Belimbing Technical Institute at Kuantan and Agricultural School in Kuala Lipis and Chenor. In addition DARA, itself is providing various forms of technical training to enchance the quality of the labour in the area through the Manpower and Training Division.

As development in the Pahang Tenggara Area is continuing it is envisaged that it will draw in more workforce and by the end of 1990, the population in this area is expected to reach the 300,000 level.

Infrastructure And Living Conditions

In order to cater the expansion of the development, more roads, amenities such as water, electricitu, telecommunication, housing, health services, primary school, post office, police and commercial bank have been planned or are underway. All these will definitely leads to a better infrastructure and living conditions for the residents in this area.

Investment Opportunities

A study completed in 1977 has identified several projects possible for implementation untul 1990. These are categorized as agrobased, woodbased, non-metallic minerals and local market oriented industries. Once these projects should be implemented, it is likely that more job opportunities will be covered.

TERENGGANU TENGAH DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (KETENGAH)

A. Background

KETENGAH was establised on 1973 under Parliamentary Act No. 104/73. The Region under the jurisdiction of KETENGAH is located on the western lower half of the State of Terengganu covering an area of approximately 430,000 ha.

B. Objectives and Fucntions

The objectives of KETENGAH are:-

1. To create efficient and well managed technological developments and large scale enterprises in agriculture with special emphasis on the diversification of crops in an area of about 116,173 ha by 1990.

2. To develop seven new towns consisting of 98,384 inhabitants by 1990 with provision of sufficient infrastructure and social amenities in these towns.

3. To create employment opportunities for 38,150 by 1990 through the adoption of labour intensive programmes and the diversification of economy as a result of various developments undertaken by the Authority.

4. To provide a means of acquiring a higher level of skills, especially for Bumiputera (Malay population).

5. To promote and develop forestry activities and timber based industries in the Region.

Thus KETENGAH is entrusted to promote, stimulate, facilitate and undertake economic, social, residential, agricultural, industrial and commercial development as well as control and co-ordinate the performance of these activities.

C. Activities And Achievement

a) Agriculture

Over this period of the Fourth Malaysia Plan (1981–1985), KETENGAH has developed a total of 15,760 ha of agricultural land involving 15,263 workers and participants.

Up until the 2nd quarter of 1984, a total of 98,874 ha of land had been alloted to the participants and out of this 89,593 ha had been developed where 58,061 ha have yielded crops.

Table 1

These projects however, are not solely developed by KETENGAH. In fact they are undertaken by other public sectors such as FELDA, SEDC ¹, RISDA ², FELCRA and MARDI, private sectors as well as joint-ventures. KETENGAH's main role is to coordinate and initiate such projects though it also participates on a joint-venture basis such as Ladang Rakyat Terengganu Sdn. Bhd., Ketengah Perwira Sdn.Bhd and Ketengah Jaya Sdn. Bhd.

¹ State Economic Development Corporation

² Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority

b) Industrial Development

Under the strategy of diversification of the regional economy and the provision of additional employment, 5 areas are reserved for rural industrialization and urbanization. These are :

Up to the end of 1980, there were 7 palm oil mills in the Region, three of which were owned by KETENGAH's joint-venture companies while the remaining 4 were owned by FELDA.

KETENGAH has also set up a quarry plant through joint-venture in Bukit Nyanya Kemaman where it is operating satisfactorily.

Other projects under consideration are the clay based and rattan based projects.

Another area where employment opportunities can be found is the timber industry in the Region where the Authority has plans to process the forest into timber based products.

c) Township Development

With the creation of 5 new townships in the Region, a total number of 6,766 settlers have moved into these towns since 1980, 2 more new towns will be developed under the Fourth Malaysia Plan. These are Cherul and Pasir Raja.

Kelantan State Development Authority (KESEDAR)

A. Background

KESEDAR was established under a parliament Act 203 of 1978, to develop the southern part of the State of Kelantan. It covers an area of approximately 1.17 million hectares and occupies 3/4 of the State of Kelantan. According to the report entitled “Kelantan Regional Planning and Development Study” by the State Economic planning Unit, southern Kelantan has great potentials for land development (resettlement and agriculture), mining and woodbased industries.

It was also found that the population per square mile in this area is comparatively lower than that of the northern part of the State. This signifies that the area is capable of absorbing a large number of settlers from the more congested northern area.

B. Organisational Structure

A new division, Social Development Division was set up in 1980 to give guidance to the KESEDAR settlers on social, economic and religious activities. Other divisions are Administration & Finance, Land Administration, Land Development & Resettlement, Planning, Technical Service, Special Planning Unit and Land Unit. KESEDAR is under the directorship of a Board consisting of a chairman, a Deputy Chairman, 3 Federal representatives and 3 State representatives.

C. Objectives And Functions

The following objectives are geared towards raising the standard for living of the people of Kelantan.

1. To expand opportunities in agriculture, forestry, mining, construction, trade and other industries in the Region thereby reducing unemployment.

2. To shift a major portion of the population in the Northern Region to the Southern Region in a systematic way through resettlement schemes. These schemes to be undertaken by KESEDAR itself as well as FELDA and FELCRA.

3. To modernize rural life through the provision of basic amenities and services such as electricity, water and health services.

4. To upgrade the status of the existing settlement areas such as Gua Musang, Jeli and Manek Urai.

D. Activities And Achievement

Four sub-regions have been identified as priority for development under the Fourth Malaysia Plan:

1. The Gua Musang sub-region
2. Ulu Aring-Ulu Relai-Sungai Chiku sub-region
3. The Pengar-Galas Valley, and
4. The Kemubu-Bertam sub-region

Land Development

By 1980, a total of 8,533 ha of land had been developed. Of this 5,296 ha were used for rubber and 3,237 ha for oil palm.

Forestry

Since forest covers almost 80% (930,000 ha) of the total area of the Region, much effort has been given to fully exploit the vast resource. A total of 11 sawmills were established by 1981, 9 in Kuala Krai and one each in Gua Musang and Jeli. The production from these sawmills accounts for about 50% of the timber production in the Region.

Urban Development

KESEDAR does not encourage the establishment of new township but rather stresses a the improvement and upgrading of existing towns in the Region. The reasons are towfold:

1. There already exist towns in those area gazetted for development, thus, setting up new township is unnecessary.

2. By developing the existing towns, KESEDAR avoids the incidents of a new township being established but lacking the population to make it meaningful.

Gua Musang has been selected as a Province Growth Centre among Jeli, Manek Urai, Bertam, Kemubu and Dabung which were all chosen for integrated development. The implementation of phase one development in Gua Musang started in early 1981.

Traditional Village Development

KESEDAR's concept in Traditional Village Development follows the criteria that, if the village is found suitable for development, then proper development will be carried out. On the other hand, if the village is found to be not suitable, the population will be encouraged to move to another area more suitable for development.

The relocation project started in 1980 with the implementation of the Manek Urai village project. Studies on the relocation of the population of Kampung Lata Rek, Slow Mengkuang, Sg. Garam and Ulu Temiang are also being actively conducted.

Settlements

KESEDAR follows the concept of the Ala Kelantan in carrying out its settlement schemes. Under this concept, the settlers are required to develop the land allocated right from the initial stage of jungle clearing, levelling and planting, differing from the FELDA schemes where settlers are brought in only after the completion of all major works and amenities. This may prove to be a disincentive to the potential settlers especially the fishermen group whose way of living is very different from farmers.

Land Rehabilitation/Improvement Schemes

Up to the 3rd quarters of 1984, there were a total of 3,648 officially registered settlers, 2,927 unregistered official settlers and 621 unofficial settlers in the Region (See Table 1).

Types of agricultural activities involved were tobacco planting, cocoa, cow rearing, poultry & groundings. Other activities were aquaculture and the cottage industry.

At present, their average income ranges from $110 to $1,500 per month. This large discrepancy is mainly due to the fact that some of the settlers have to wait for a considerable period of time before their yields are harvested.

Land Development Schemes

Land development schemes are concentrated in Gua Musang, Paloh and Chalil/Lebir areas where a total of 8 projects covering 12,866 ha were implemented in September 1984. A total of 3,174 people were selected as settlers, however, only 1926 had registered as of September, 1984. (See Table 2).

KEDAH REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (KEDA)

A. Background

The KEDA region covers almost the entire state of Kedah except for the MADA region which stretches along the north-western coast. Although the region covers almost the entire Kedah, it has been generally neglected particularly in the Central and interior belt, very much unlike to the MADA region which has developed progressively through its exensive irrigation schemes. In order to restructure and strengthen the economy of this region, Kedah Regional Development Authority (KEDA) was set up in 1981 under the parliamentary Act No. 249/81 with the aim to raise the standards of living of the rural population in the KEDA region.

B. Functions

In order to achieve the objectives of raising the living standards of the rural population, one of the most elementary requirements is to improve onm the basic infrastructure of the rural area. Secondly, KEDA must change the traditional rural form and economic structure to commercial based agricultural activities. Thirdly, KEDA should also encourage participation from the rural society in the planning and implementation of the rural development projects.

C. Industrialization Programmes

The Bamboo Industry Project

In order to fully exploit the vast area of bamboo in the surrounding area of Nara and Nami, which has more than 50 types of bamboo, KEDA has initiated a project whereby the finished bamboo products can be produced on a commercial basis. A bamboo factory was built by 1983 to process the raw bamboo into finished products such as bamboo strips and satay (barbeque) sticks. 35 workers have been employed.

The Rattan Industry Project

Again, owing to the vast amount and variety of rattan found in the forest reserves of the KEDA region, the project was initiated and many rattan factories were built to produce finished rattan goods that are of domestic as well as international value. In 1983, three bamboo collection and processing centres were built in Kg. Wang Perah (Kubang Pasu), Kg. Baru and Pasir Putih (Padang Terap) with a total investment of $45,972.00. 76 workers were employed and about 135 bamboo loggers are receiving benefits. In 1983, the centres were able to collect as many as 263,000 bamboo poles.

Low Quality Woods Industry Project

Low quality woods such as ‘rubber wood’ are found in abundant quantity and variety in the Sik and Baling districts. These woods, though they do not have high commercial value, can be used to produce furniture and wooden toys which are exported.

Clay Based Industry Project

High quality clay can be obtained from the KEDA region which can be used to produce latex cups, flower pots, roof tiles and other commercial clay products on a commercial scale.

Coconut-based Industry Project

Large stretches of coconut plants are found along the coastal region of the Langkawi islands. One of the chief products is coconut oil which can be processed into a variety of goods. In order to increase the production, KEDA has carried out additional planting and replanting of old coconut trees with improved planting materials.

D. Agricultural Programmes

Commercial Crops Industry

Under this project, KEDA has made full use of the poor quality land for planting lemon-grass, a type of grass where its oil extract can be used for production of soap, perfume and cosmetics which have great potential in the local and overseas markets. A pilot project was carried out in Pantai Molek, Sik covering an area of about 3 acres.

Other projects in agricultural activities are coffee and banana project in Carok Tualang, Sik, Coconut project in Pulau Langkawi and rubber project in Ulu Mahang and Kg. Pantai Molek, Sik (See Table)

Table

E. Urbanization Programmes

This includes the development of local and rural growth centres where basic trading and administrative activities are carried out. KEDA has sought to acquire loans and assistance from ADB for the implementation of Phase I urban development proposals stretching over a four year period beginning in the last quarter of 1985, as shown in Table.

Table Phase I KEDA/ADB Urban Development Programme

F. Traditional Villages Development Programmes

There exists about 1,500 traditional villages in the KEDA region where the values of more than half of the houses are below $1,000. It is therefore necessary to improve the standards of these houses by providing basic facilities and amenities to them. This project also ties in closely with the Basic Infrastructure Development Programme where funds are provided for the construction of drainage systems, roads, and electricity supply. To date, KEDA has built 164 housing units in Kampung Berjaya, Kuala Muda with a total expenses of $2.5 millions. KEDA also plans to built 100 housing units in Pulau Langkawi under this programme.

G. Future Plans/Programmes

The Authority will continue to improve the socio-economic position of the rural population of the KEDA region. This will be done through improving the basic infrastructure facilities, developing more urban and rural growth centres and encourages more commercial agricultural activities and industrial.

H. MAJUTANI (KEDA) SDN. BHD.

MAJUTANI Sdn. Bhd. was set up in December 1981 as a subsidiary of the KEDA. Its primary objective was to speed up the industrial development process especially in rural industry, which cannot be achieved efficiently by a public agency like KEDA due to certain constraints. Since its establishment, MAJUTANI has been actively involved in the rural industrial development. To date, it has spent about $300,000 in research and development on rattan and bamboo as a result of the dwindling resources. Up till 1983, a total of 13 projects have been carried out, these are: projects in bamboo and rattan, projects in paper industry, honey collection scheme and projects in rural industry.