Friday, August 17, 2007

Perak’s RM1.4b biofuel plant cancelled

There has been a big huh-hah when the government launched the big push on biofuel.

One year after the launching of biofuel, the progress is so slow that consumers to date cannot benefit from biofuel, which is a replacement to the conventional fossil fuel.

Now, we have a news - Perak's RM1.4 billion biofuel plant cancelled.

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IPOH: A plan to build the country’s first biofuel plant project in Trong near Taiping is off and the state government is not saying why for fear of legal action.

Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali, who told reporters this after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting on Wednesday, only said: “It did not materialise.”

Declining to reveal the reason for cancellation of the RM1.4bil project, he said: “No need-lah. Later, I could get sued.”


Tajol Rosli was responding to queries on whether the company Pioneer Bio Industries Corp Sdn Bhd had briefed the state government on the project.

It has been reported that Pioneer Bio Industries Corp Sdn Bhd, the inventor of the nipah or mangrove palm-based ethanol, would invest RM1.4bil to set up the country’s first plant to produce biofuel on a large scale.

Its chairman Md Badrul Shah Mohd Noor has been quoted as saying the factory would be built in a 1,000ha area where some 6,000 wild nipah trees are found growing in Trong, about 82km from here.

In January, a grand ceremony was held to unveil the company’s five-storey building and announce the project.

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