KUCHING: Sarawak Biomass Indus t ry Development Plan (SBIDP) will continue with its fast and inclusive approach on Rural Transformation and Development for Sarawak.
National Innovation Agency Malaysia (AIM) chief operating officer Abdullah Arshad said although slowly progressing, the opportunity to deliver remains through various collaboration and technology conversion.
“The importance of Sarawak, the biggest State in Malaysia, cannot be over stated. The availability of 19 million tonnes of solid biomass from the palm oil sector, ability to cultivate multi biomass feedstock and push for a BioHub development in location l ike Bintulu and Miri, could optimise its existing advantages of cent ral ised locat ion, ever improving infrastructure (Pan Borneo Highway) and proximity to markets and elevate activities for existing value chains in Sarawak.
“We agree with Jim Lane, the founder and editor of Biofuels Digest that the three pillars for a successful ecosystem is the avai labi l i ty of cost ef fect ive feedstock, infrastructure and bio intelligence, all of which Sarawak has the capability to excel ,” said Abdul lah in hi s speech when officiating at the closing ceremony of International Biomass Conference (IBCM) 2017, held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, yesterday.
He added that through collaborative actions, greater coordination on research, innovation and commercialisation efforts wi ll accelerate the realisation of Malaysia’s biomass agenda. Abdullah noted that while the industry has not been progressing as quickly as i t should, the optimism remains as conversion technologies are maturing coupled with evolving partnership and business models (financing included), will significantly bring down the mobilisation cost of biomass, creating the foundation to deliver an ecosystem that will help this industry flourish.
He also believe that all of the local stakeholders in Sarawak agree on the need to identify 2018 as a year for action to deliver real projects for Sarawak and Malaysia at large. “We must keep the momentum going to strengthen Malaysia’s bioeconomy by maximising its overall potential in this sector, and this is especially important key for other state like Sabah, Johor, Pahang and Perak,” he said.
