By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, Oct 19: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg today hinted that the State government will amend its present law so that it can claim carbon credit from sago and oil palm wastes.
As such he said, it was crucial for Sarawak to carry out more research on sago and oil palm wastes to produce green energy for its own use and for export.
“If we can produce green energy, then we can claim carbon credit.
“So, we have to amend our (current) ordinance. At this moment we don’t have the provision in our law on carbon trading as a commodity. We have to upgrade (amend) our law so that we can claim carbon credit.
“For that matter we are on the right track,” Abang Johari said at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Crop Research and Application Unit (CRAUN) Research Sdn Bhd and Knowledge Integrated Services Pte Ltd (Singapore) (KISS) at a hotel here today.
Abang Johari, who is also Minister of Finance, said his administration would continue to allocate more money on research and development including for CRAUN.
“I will provide special allocation for CRAUN to carry our necessary research on sago and oil palms wastes so that we can use the by-products such as biogas and fertilisers.
“If we can treat the sago waste, I believed that with proper research, waste from our oil palm could also be processed. And one of the products would be fertiliser, to add value to oil palm waste. And perhaps, that can also emit gas. If that can happen, then we have renewable gas which we can produce and this gas can be used domestically.
With such a scenario, Abang Johari reiterated that Sarawak would be able to commercialise such biogas from both sago and oil palm wastes in future as it has the autonomous right to distribute such commodity.
“Then we can distribute it for our community which is produced by either sago or oil palm wastes. That would definitely reduce the consumption of gas from other hydrocarbon.
“If that happens, the price of gas will be cheaper. Then the cost of doing business will be cheaper. (So), once you have that advantage on cost-saving, then your products will be competitive,” he reiterated.
Abang Johari, who is also the Minister of Finance, was optimistic that the sago industry in Sarawak is heading towards the right direction as it has been producing a wide variety of products for both domestic and foreign market.
“We have the resources. What we are lacking is research. Once we put money there as investment, the returns will be there and it will create jobs for people who come out from our universities,” he said, adding that graduates from the Sarawak International Schools in future would have jobs available in the state. —DayakDaily
