2 Sep 2002

Malaysian loggers offered stake in Solomons oil plantation

5:09 pm on 2 September 2002

Landowners in Solomon Island have agreed that the Malaysian logging company Sylvania Products be allowed to buy shares in the now closed palm oil plantation on Guadalcanal.

Sylvania has been logging at Vangunu in the Marovo lagoon which is a world heritage site.

George Atkin reports.

"The landowners have accepted the Malaysian company over Ding Dong of mainland China which has also expressed interest in investing in the Solomon's Plantations Limited which shut down operation in the ethnic tension in 1999. Meanwhile the landowners are reported to have asked Sylvania to meet the cost of a reconciliation ceremony between the different tribes in the area. The companies response is still not available in Honiara, and the government has been told in a briefing that the U.K owned Commonwealth Government cooperation the former major party in the SIPL still wants to maintain it's shares in the company and the landowners are reportedly happy about it"