First swiftlet rearing zone to be in Mukah, Sarawak

Extract From The Borneo Post
KUCHING: The state will soon have a swiftlet rearing zone, and for that a piece of land in Balingian in Mukah has been identified.Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Naroden Majais said yesterday the project would be managed by the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC).

Without disclosing the size of the land, Naroden assured that the project would not be close to the town or residential areas. “The swiftlet rearing zone in Mukah will start soon, and will be equipped with infrastructure to meet the request of the people,” Naroden told reporters.
He had earlier officiated at the closing of a two-day Sarawak Land Seminar for Southern Zone (Kuching/Samarahan/Sri Aman/Betong) at a hotel here. He pointed out that the piece of land in Mukah that had been earmarked for the project belonged to the state, and it was the first project approved by the government.

Naroden, who is also Assistant Minister of Planning and Resource Management, pointed out that the project in Mukah was due to “popular demand” from the people. With the implementation of the project, people who were involved and interested in rearing swiftlets would be absorbed into the area, he explained. According to him, there is also great demand for such projects in Sarikei and Bintulu, and it would be up to SEDC whether to establish the projects in the two areas.
Naroden also said about 200 applications had been received from the people who were interested in swiftlet rearing business.

At that moment, only two applications had been approved to individuals, he said, adding that the others were still at various processing stage. He pointed out that applications would have to be made through the Forest Department which would coordinate with the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) and the Land and Survey Department.

The assistant minister stressed that there were various criteria to follow before the licence was approved. In view of this, he advised those who were interested to apply for the licence to get information from the Forest Department.

Earlier, when closing the seminar, Naroden said NCR landowners, whose land were developed for oil palm plantations, would not lose their right over their land. He said before the land was developed, an agreement would be signed between the developer and the land owners for a certain period of time, after which the land would be returned to the owners after the period lapsed.

Among those present at the function were Land Development Assistant Minister Datuk Francis Harden, Environment Assistant Minister Dr Abang Rauf Abang Zen and Land and Survey Department director Datu Sudarsono Osman.