Nature Alert: Malaysian Investors Invited To Establish Palm Oil Refineries In Central Kalimantan

Tuesday, 26 January 2010

Malaysian Investors Invited To Establish Palm Oil Refineries In Central Kalimantan

January 26, 2010

Malaysian Investors Invited To Establish Palm Oil Refineries In Central Kalimantan

By Nashir Mansor

PALANGKARAYA (Central Kalimantan), Jan 26 (Bernama) -- Malaysian entreprenuers are being invited to establish palm oil refineries in Central Kalimantan.

Deputy Governor Ir. Achmad Diran said as the province's oil palm industry was developing rapidly there was a need for more refineries to cater for the 1.2 million tonnes of crude palm oil produced here.

Central Kalimantan has only one refinery as such a significant amount of the crude palm oil, produced in the province ,is transported by ships to Surabaya for processing.

"There is great potential to invest in this sector as oil palm cultivation is developing rapidly in Central Kalimantan which registered a growth of 5.94 per cent last year.

"We have four million hectares of land which is suitable not only for oil palm but also for rubber cultivation," he told a Malaysian delegation of journalists and businessmen from Sabah led by former Sabah Chief Minster Datuk Harris Salleh who are on a 10-day visit to Kalimantan.

The visit, sponsored by Berjaya Foundation and coordinated by the Indonesian Counsulate in Kota Kinabalu, is to explore investment prospects in Kalimantan and to forge close ties between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Achmad said several Malaysian companies were already developing part of 700,000 hectares of land being opened up in Central Kalimantan.

He said there was also ample opportunities for investors to venture into livestock breeding of cattle to meet the rising demand for beef.

"Central Kalimantan needs an additional 7,000 heads of cattle just to supply meat to its 300,000 population.

"This does not include the demand for beef from other provinces in Kalimantan," he added.

-- BERNAMA

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsbusiness.php?id=471122

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.