Sabah key player in bio-economy roadmap
Published on: Friday, September 04, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The timing and conditions are right for Sabah to stake its claim as a major player in Malaysia's bio-economy and attain a quantum leap of the industrial sector in the state's gross domestic product (GDP).Experts speakers at the up-coming symposium The Green Agenda: Investment Opportunities in Bio-based Materials here this Monday (Sept 7) agreed that the availability of biomass, the State's rich biodiversity and the global trend towards resource sustainability combine to favour Sabah."Since the launch of the NBS2020 (National Biomass Strategy), Sabah has been and will continue to be (recognised as) the major contributor to the country's bio-economy as far as biomass is concerned," said Timothy Ong of Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM) who will be presenting a paper on 'Sabah Biomass Industry Development Plan' at the symposium at Shangri-la Tanjung Aru Resort, here. Malaysia's ambition in bio-economy is spelt out in the Bioeconomy Transformation Programme.
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The Sabah Plan is the outcome of a six-month study funded by AIM, a Prime Minister's Department agency, and conducted by global consultancy Pyory Management Consulting. Dr Douglas Furtek, a United States-born scientist working with the Teck Guan Group, said there may be differences of opinion in terms of the urgency of developing the bio-economy, there are many reasons in embracing the idea because of the massive ripple effects on the state economy when, for example, bio-refineries become a reality.Teck Guan Group, one of the biggest plantation companies in Sabah, is the first company in Malaysia to have a pilot bioethanol plant. The plant, located at Tawau, has been testing the viability of producing bioethanol from empty fruit bunches, one of the biomass produced by oil palm mills. Many types of high-value industrial sugars can further be derived from plant-based bioethanol.
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"Among all the biomass in Malaysia, oil palm biomass makes up the most significant amount and with Sabah having the largest planted area in the country for palm oil," AIM's Timothy said. "This makes Sabah one of the most interesting destinations to explore and commercialise biomass-based downstream industries. With 1.5 million hectares of total planted area and more than 140 mills, Sabah will continue to be a powerhouse for biomass-based opportunities." The symposium is being organised jointly by EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EU-MCCI) and state-owned POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd, the developer of the Lahad Datu palm oil industry cluster (POIC Lahad Datu) where a one-of-a-kind industrial park is taking shape to take Sabah's oil palm industry towards higher downstream value-adding.
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POIC Sabah's chief executive officer Datuk Dr Pang Teck Wai, a passionate advocate of industrialising the oil palm industry, pointed to the heightened interest of international companies in Sabah's biomass and how, when developed, the biomass sector can be a game-changer in Sabah's economic development."We have spoken with technology companies and investors waiting for our infrastructure (port logistics) and assurance of raw materials supply."We have companies with tested technologies wanting to produce biodegradable plastics from biomass, and companies who can produce biochemical with extensive industrial applications," said Pang. "The window of opportunities is now."Pang will be sharing with the symposium's participant's investment opportunities in bio-based industries at POIC Lahad Datu where a biorefinery cluster, the first in the country, is slowly taking shape. The cluster's first tenant is a Malaysia-America joint venture in which Genting Berhad and Elevance Renewable of the US are investing up to RM1.7 billion to produce specialty chemicals from palm oil.The other papers in the one-day symposium are Markets for Bio-based Materials by Lux Research of Singapore, Navigating the Sustainability Challenge by M.R. Chandran Nair of Platinum Energy/Advisor to the Executive Board of RSPO, and Dr. Rezal Khairi Ahmad by NanoMalaysia Berhad on Nanotechnology Solutions for Biomass Industry.Representatives from France, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain will have concurrent sessions in the afternoon where they will share their experiences and opportunities in various bio-related fields including palletisation, bio-based materials innovation and bio-gas innovations.Meanwhile, AIM's Timothy said the biomass development plan he is unveiling at the symposium will hopefully put substance to the hype on biomass opportunities that has been circulating in the market."At the end of the day, biomass industries in Sabah should be one that could help propel the State to the high income bracket with its people benefiting from the value created downstream and throughout the value chain," he enthused. "We believe that with the plan, there would be focused efforts to develop and attract the right activities and investments throughout the biomass value chain."Teck Guan's Furtek forecasts higher profits from bio-refineries as technologies to convert biomass into valuable chemicals continually improve."New valuable chemicals from biomass, such as bioplastics and bio-surfactants, are being developed all the time."Pang meanwhile, asserted that Sabah will need to find niches in the economy to be developed extensively and quickly in order to keep pace with the national pursuit for developed economy status by 2020.Quoting official statistics, he said Sabah's 2014 GDP per capita of RM19,000 is unlikely to be able to reach the US$15,000 envisaged by 2020. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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