KUCHING, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- The proposed RM70 million-integrated palm oilrefinery at Senari near here is expected to provide an annual processingcapacity of 300,000 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) and 600,000 tonnes ofpalm kernels initially, said Tan Sri Bujang Nor, chairman of the AssarGroup of Companies.The complex, scheduled for completion in early 2006, will occupy a12-hectare piece of land adjacent to an on-going independent oil terminal(IOT) project at Senari."We (shareholders) are calling for tenders and will start the projectas soon as possible," he told reporters after the project's agreementsigning ceremony here today.Assar Refinery Holdings Sdn Bhd, holds more than 40 percent of theequity in the joint venture firm, Assar Refinery Services Sdn Bhd. Itspartners are the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority(Salcra) and Cargill of the United States.Salcra will become the principal supplier of the raw materials to theproposed refinery while Cargill will be the principal buyer of theprocessed products.Also present at the signing ceremony was Sarawak's Land DevelopmentAssistant Minister Francis Harden, who represented the Deputy ChiefMinister and Salcra chairman Tan Sri Alfred Jabu.Plantation Enterprises and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin saidthe refinery would save millers and planters millions of ringgit ontransportation costs once it became operational.The site of the complex is strategically located near Senari Port,which has a good draft of about 10 to 11 metres to accommodate vessels upto 20,000 deadweight tonnes which can sail to international ports.In Chin's speech, which was read out by the ministry's parliamentarysecretary, Ng Lip Yong, the minister said it would spur plantationdevelopment in southern Sarawak besides stimulating the creation of otheradded value dowmstream industries.It would augur well with the target set by the Sarawak stategovernment to have one million hectares planted with oil palm by 2010, hesaid.At present, Sarawak has 460,000 hectares planted with the crop out ofa national total 3.8 million hectares. -- BERNAMA