1/8/06 (The Star)  -  MIRI: Eco-friendly mats developed from discarded oil palm bunches will be used at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

China wants to use the mat, known as ecomat, to beautify and landscape Beijing for the Olympics.

“The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and Ecofuture Bhd, the inventors of ecomat, are all excited about this prospect, as this is a golden opportunity for Malaysia to showcase our eco-friendly palm oil product to a global audience,” said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui.

He said Malaysia had earlier successfully created the ecomat from oil palm fruit waste capable of stopping desert sand from eating into fertile agriculture land in China. 

 
KEEPING THE DESERT OUT: Malaysian-made ecomat used at this project site near Beijing have prevented the desert from eating into farmlands.

Impressed with this product, China now wants to use the ecomat for environment protection, landscaping and beautification projects all over Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.

“Ecomat is a product made in Malaysia by MPOB in joint venture with Ecofuture Bhd, a KL-based firm,” Chin said.

“Over the past four years, ecomat has undergone stringent testing in China. The Beijing Forestry Commission (BFC) used it in an experiment to retard the spread of desert sand.

“Extensive experiments were conducted in four desert regions surrounding Beijing and it was found that ecomat successfully stopped desert sand from eating into agriculture land. The ecomat has a special ability to retain moisture and protect the soil structure.

Chin, who is Miri MP, said the raw product for the ecomat was sourced from plantations in the peninsula. 

“China is very excited about this product and wants to buy ecomat from us in bulk because it wants to protect its vast agriculture land from the desert,” said Chin, who visited Beijing and Shanghai last week to meet BFC officials.

“China has a vast expense of desert land and it is worried that because of fast penetration of desert sand into fertile farmland. It found ecomat to be very useful in halting this desert invasion.” 

Chin said Malaysia had agreed to make BFC the sole distributor of ecomat in China.

There are plans to market the product to the Middle East and North Africa.

Chin said another Malaysian company, BioSweet Sdn Bhd, inked a deal with China National Offshore Oil Company (China’s third largest oil firm) to produce methyl-ester for making biodiesel in China.

A plant costing US$60mil (RM219.4mil) was to be set up in China to produce this green fuel using Malaysian palm oil, he said, adding that Malaysia would export more than 300,000 tonnes of palm oil to this plant annually.