Salcra participants to receive dividends from today
KUCHING: Landowners and participants of the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) in Bau- Lundu districts will be receiving their dividends starting today ( May 25), said Sylvester Dias, a landowner and a village chief of Kampung Bokah, Lundu.
According to him, Salcra had informed the participants yesterday of the good news.
“We will start receiving our dividends tomorrow (today). But I was told that it will be in stages as it depends on which banks we (the participants) have savings account with,” Dias said when contacted yesterday.
Dias, who is also the deputy chairman of the Oil Palm Plantation Development Committee (AJPLS) Undan Estate in Lundu and the coordinator of the Lundu district Bidayuh village chiefs and community leaders, said the participants were very thankful to Deputy Chief Minister who is also Salcra’s chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas for his understanding and decisiveness in settling the issue amicably.
“We are thankful to Datuk Amar Douglas ( Uggah) for his assistance. Now there is every reason for us to celebrate Gawai Dayak,” he said.
Uggah had informed The Borneo Post on Monday that the decision to pay out the dividends to the participants was approved after it was decided during Salcra’s top management meeting.
The deputy chief minister, who is also Minister of Modernization of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development was asked to intervene as there had been a clarion call from the land development participants from Bau for the dividends to be paid before Gawai Dayak which had been the practice for the last two years.
Initially Salcra had decided to give the dividends after Gawai as it hoped that the money would be used for the participants’ children’s education needs. This had prompted The Borneo Post to seek clarification on the issue from Uggah.
Salcra has declared a RM69 million nett proceeds for last year. The first nett proceed payment ( NPP) amounting to RM34.5 million was paid in December 2017 while the final NPP amounting to RM34.5 million will be paid before Gawai. The payment of NPP will benefit 14,800 eligible Salcra landowners.