KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 (Bernama) -- Named by the Human Resources Ministryas one of Malaysia's most prepared employer to face globalisation, Kulim(M) Bhd's operations in West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, notonly fulfils this distinction, but is one of grand proportions.

Its 80 percent-owned New Britain Palm Oil Ltd (NBPOL) operates 30,000hectares of estate land in the island, looks after the well being of 6,000employees, 8,000 company registered smallholders (25,000 hectares) and aresearch and development centre.

On top of that, it has given rise to a township thriving on palm oil asits major lifeline, meaning which its involvement in Papua New Guinea isfar from a simple operation encompassing palm oil production, workers'salaries or company profits and revenue alone.

On a recent tour of its facilities in the island, journalists were givenan insight not only into the company's plantations, mills, palm oilrefinery and research activities, but also a general feel of the people,island and the slow paced but definite socio-economic progress takingplace for them, thanks to palm oil.

SOCIO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

"There is no doubt that the PNG operation is Kulim's jewel in the crown,"Kulim's managing director Zulkifli Ibrahim says.

NBPOL's pre-tax profit last year was a record 109 million kina (RM1.17=1Kina), with high commodity prices and oil production cited as factors forthe strong performance. Crude oil production amounted to 204,402 tonneswith the plantations producing 67 percent of total Fresh Fruit Bunches(FFB) production (817,250 tonnes).

The smallholders who supplied 32 percent (264,967 tonnes) of the totalFFB, were paid 52 million kina in total for the year.

During the year, 42 million kina in dividends were distributed toshareholders while income tax payments amounting to 24 million kina werealso paid to the National Government of PNG.

"It is the life line of this place, responsible for most of the cashflowhere," says Shashi, who runs a Malaysian owned retail shop in the island'stown centre, Kimbe.

"Every fortnight, the workers get paid here by NBPOL. As there are onlytwo banks here, it gets congested, so most of the plantation workers orthe company's registered smallholders bring their NBPOL cheques to becashed at the shops here as the cheques are honoured by all the shopshere.

This perhaps best sums up NBPOL's economic role in the island.

"People buy a small percentage of their provisions in the shops and get tocash their cheques in the shops.

"This provides the rest of the shops not only business but keepseverything going. The palm oil plantations of NBPOL are the backbone ofalmost all economic activities in the island," he said.

In fact, there would have been no Kimbe if not for the golden crop.

KIMBE TOWN

Kimbe, a port-based town consisting of few rows of departmental stores,retail shops, two banks, a hospital, open air markets and several moremodest public and private buildings along the single stretch of road thatserves the length of the West New Britain island, was indeed born out ofthe palm oil business.

A wharf and other basic facilities including access roads along thecoastal area established to serve the transportation of NBPOL's crude palmoil in the early days, became the foundation for the later day town ofKimbe.

As for the facilities built by NBPOL, covered under its own plantationsand the mini estates, they include housing, medical, educational andsocial facilities, power as well as water supply, security and otheramenities for its workers and the general populace within the areas.

NBPOL, in laying down the foundation in the late 60s for the variousfacilities in the island to support its business, had also very early onestablished the route to sustainable development not only of its businessbut the social and economic well-being of the local people working in theestates and the immediate vicinity.

Among the more recent contributions has been a patrol van for the ruralPolice in the area of Buluma and teachers' quarters in Lavege.

Besides setting up the New Britain Palm Oil Foundation Ltd to assist thelocal communities in health and education, NBPOL also has on-the-jobtraining and mentoring schemes. It trains a significant number of PNG'suniversity and vocational training school graduates and has apprenticeshipprogrammes in all relevant trades.

The smallholders who contribute one third of NBPOL's total oil palm FreshFruit Bunches production, and who get paid an average range of over 1million kina per week, also gain from various schemes to help them.

In the third week of May alone, a payment of 1.9 million kina was paid tothe smallholders.

The success of palm oil operations in PNG undoubtedly rests on thecombination of several factors - rich volcanic soil, high rainfall, theexploitation of a highly profitable commodity in a sustainable way,well-established systems, the employment of the best resources, and notleast of all is the research and development culture of the company.

ISO 14001, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Besides contributing significantly to the development and cloning of highyielding palm fruits, the research and development efforts of NBPOL overthe years have produced some revolutionary methods of running the oil palmbusiness.

Optimisation of by-products or waste products of oil palm, is an operatingrule here, says Dr Simon Lord, NBPOL Head of Technical Advisory Services.

Among the notable achievements of the company, which has practiced a zeroburn policy since its incorporation, has been its road to zero effluencefor its mill operations.

Its Numundo Oil Mill, in its third year of operation, is the world's firstoil palm mill that practices zero effluent discharge, where it usesco-composting techniques to de-water the effluent. The resulting compost -high nutrient fertilizers - are then used in both its nurseries andplantations.

Besides contributing to a cleaner environment, the compost technologyusing empty fruit bunches (EFB) has also significantly cut down thecompany's cost of importing fertilizers used for its crops, Lord said. Thecompany expects to adopt the technology for its other older mills in theisland in the future.

At the forefront of the company's vision for sustained growth and arigorous environment management system, Lord describes the operations ofNBPOL, which received the ISO14001 certification on May 1 this year, as aliving example of what the Brundtland Report meant when it definedsustainable development as "development that meets the needs of thepresent without compromising the ability of future generations to meettheir own needs."

The Brundtland Report is the findings of world politicians, civil servantsand experts who met in 1987 to discuss "Our Common Future" and whosubsequently highlighted environment protection, economic growth andsocial equity as the three fundamental components governing sustainabledevelopment.

Truly, Kulim, through its varied contributions to Papua New Guinea, hasdone Malaysia proud as a global company.

-- BERNAMA