(MY)

May 24, 2006

Wednesday May 24, 2006-The Star

Oil palm firm sets aside land for rehab

*KOTA KINABALU:* A state-owned oil palm company is setting aside some

1,260ha of its riverside land for rehabilitation in efforts to set up the

Kinabatangan " corridor of life " .

Sawit Kinabalu Bhd Group, through subsidiary Borneo Samudera Sdn Bhd, signed

a memorandum of understanding with WWF Malaysia yesterday to set aside land

along the Sungai Pin riverbank following the success of rehabilitation

efforts in the Batu Putih and Tanjung Bulat area of the Lower Kinabatangan.

Securing a wildlife corridor along the 20km stretch of the riverbank would

also help develop the Batu Putih area into a nature-based tourism area, WWF

National Programme director Dr Dionysius S.K. Sharma said.

GREEN ZONE: An aerial view of the stretch of land set aside for

conservation and reforestation along the Sungai Pin riverbank in Sabah.

Dr Sharma signed the memorandum with Sawit Group managing director Salim

Mohammad, witnessed by Minister in the Chief Minister's Department Datuk

Nasir Tun Sakaran, who represented Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman.

Dr Sharma said, so far, Borneo Samudera and two other companies had been

involved in the rehabilitation effort to set up the corridor of life.

Negotiations are still going on with several other companies.

He said the WWF would continue to educate owners of oil palm plantations

along the Sungai Kinabatangan and its tributaries to participate in the

project.

" We will continue to educate them on the need to allow wildlife to roam

freely along the river through the corridor, " he said, adding that a forest

corridor would help connect isolated forest reserves, private plantation

lands and the Kinabatangan Wildlife sanctuary.

Salim said he was happy with the first phase of rehabilitation works where

the area rehabilitated was now home to about 16 species of mammals,

including orang utans and proboscis monkeys, together with some 57 species

of birds.

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