Malaysia's Felda, FGV say Terengganu land spat could disrupt operations, impact national output
A man walks past the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 11, 2019. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 : Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) and its commercial arm FGV Holdings Berhad said on Tuesday they had been issued an order by Terengganu state to vacate palm oil plantation land there, warning it could impact operations and national output.
FGV, one of the world’s largest palm oil producers, in a joint statement with Felda said a notice had been issued to vacate and demolish building structures and destroy crops in Terengganu within three days, describing that as an extremely tight timeline.
The Terengganu state government could not be reached by Reuters and did not immediately respond to an email request for comment outside of business hours. No notices related to Felda and FGV were reported on the state government's website on Tuesday.
FGV was privatised in August and is now fully owned and controlled by Felda, a government agency. FGV has a total oil palm landbank of 324,563 hectares and its fresh fruit bunches production reached 3.97 million metric tons last year.
Local media outlet Berita Harian on Sunday reported a trespass notice had been issued to FGV and Felda to remove assets from 10 plantations covering 15,000 hectares in the state and that the notice stemmed from a protracted disagreement about profit-sharing.
Reuters could not independently verify the details in the report.
"The impact also includes a decline in output that contributes to national income, thus affecting the settler community that depends on the performance of the plantation sector," FGV and Felda said of the notice to vacate the land.
Felda and FGV said they had legal standing under decades-old land laws to develop group settlement areas and were conducting a comprehensive review of all documents related to their Terengganu operations.
"We are studying the legal implications in depth and will take all necessary steps to manage its impact so that the interests of settlers will continue to be protected,” they said.
