Green Plus Issu 14

IPERBADANAN TE KNOLOGI H 

JAU 

M E L A K A 

WORLD AT 

THEIR FEET 

Melaka a shining example not only for 

Malaysia but also in ASEAN 

No more 

plastic bags 

Hypermarkets can’t just 

ignore calls to use 

paper bags 

All 

in need 

Enhancing green 

practices for special 

needs children 

100 Green 

hotels by 2018 

Malaysia’s sustainable 

tourism set to impact 

hotel industry 

ISSN 2298-6049 

9 772298 604000 

03 

IN THIS 

ISSUE 

Embracing a Green and Sustainable Future 

Effective learning and networking experience for all 

for participated in Expo 

A Success Story 

Asia’s premier energy-saving 

innovation show 

Indian Trend-setter 

 

completely operate on solar power 

PP 18355/12/2013 (033744) Vol 3 Issue 14 RM12.00 MARCH, 2016

Menara Sarawak Energy : First Green Building in East Malaysia, awarded with Final Green

Hypermarkets can’t just 

ignore calls to use 

paper bags 

Embracing a Green and Sustainable Future 

Effective learning and networking experience for all 

for participated in Expo 

Enhancing green 

practices for special 

needs children 

M E L A K A 

Malaysia’s sustainable 

tourism set to impact 

hotel industry 

A Success Story 

Asia’s premier energy-saving 

innovation show 


ISSN 2298-6049 

9 772298 604000 

Indian Trend-setter 

 

completely operate on solar power 

03 

E 

D 

I 

T 

O 

R 

S 

N 

O 

T 

E 

Driven by 

political 

will 

CM Datuk Seri Ir Idris Haron 

puts shoulder to wheel to 

ensure Melaka achieves Green 

city status by 2020 

WORLD AT 

THEIR FEET 

IN THIS 

ISSUE 

No more 

plastic bags 

All 

in need 

100 Green 

hotels by 2018 

PP 18355/12/2013 (033744) Vol 3 Issue 14 RM12.00 MARCH, 2016 

Publisher/ Managing Editor 

Johnson Fernandez 

johnson@theplus.my 

Chief Executive Officer 

Wong Tze Cheen 

tcwong@theplus.my 

Contributors 

Neera Khandpuri 

Aniz Adura Ab. Majid 

Sheila Kumar 

JAU 

Melaka a shining example not only for 

Malaysia but also in ASEAN 

2 

IT IS often said anything at all is as good 

as the person who holds the reins. 

If that person decides that 

something should be done, or needs 

to be done, because he had seen the 

larger picture of the good that it can 

bring, then there can be no one better to lead 

the charge. 

Meet Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ir 

Idris Haron. 

Under his watch, Melaka has made several 

strides towards realizing the goals of the Prime 

Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak. 

Melaka is the only State in the Malaysia that 

has a “no plastic bags” policy, among other 

things, while the rest of Malaysia has not 

progressed from the “Saturday only” stance. 

For the delegates at this Resilient Cities Asia- 

Pacific 2016 in Melaka, a trip down history lane 

is compelling. 

It will help understand why Melaka has stolen 

a march on the rest of the country in advancing 

green technology and sustainability and an ecofriendly 

environment. 

Because this is where even Malayan 

civilization begun, in 1400. 

History has it that an Indian prince, 

Parameswara, who was fleeing from Sumatra, 

arrived on Melaka’s shores in the late 14th 

century. While resting under a tree during 

a hunt, one of Parameswara’s dogs cornered 

a mousedeer. The defensive instinct of 

themousedeer saw it pushing the dog into the 

river. 

All this had not passed Parameswara, who 

was amazed by the mousedeer’s tenacity and 

will to survive. Parameswara decided then and 

there, that he would reside at that place, naming 

it Melaka after the Melaka tree in the shades of 

which he sought rest. 

There began Malayan civilization, and 

Parameswara eventually embraced Islam and 

became known as Iskandar Shah. 

Under Sultan Mansur Shah, Melaka became a 

protectorate of China, and the relationship was 

cemented by Sultan Mansur Shah’s marriage to 

Hang Li Po, whose attendants also married locals 

to breed the people we today know as Babas. 

Melaka fell under the Portuguese empire in 

1511, the Dutch in 1641 and eventually Britain 

in 1824. 

Melaka strategic position along the popular 

Straits of Malacca made it a popular stop for 

seafarers. 

Melaka was declared a UNESCO World 

Heritage site in 2008. 

Efforts to preserve Melaka have been ongoing 

Datuk Seri Ir Idris who has been pushing the 

no-holds-barred “green” agenda to maximum 

capacity. It is Melaka’s intention to be declared 

a Green Technology City by 2020. 

Melaka GreenTech Corporation, under the 

stewardship of Chief Executive Officer Datuk 

Kamaruddin Mohd Shah, has been co-ordinating 

the State’s efforts to ensure timelines and 

benchmarks are strictly adhered to. 

The future has arrived, right here in Melaka, 

right now. 

Opinions expressed by writers, columnists and advertisers are not necessarily those of the publisher 

and editor. While every care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the articles, the publisher assumes no 

 

Columnists 

Lim Gene-Harn 

Zaini Abdul Wahab 

Kenny Hoo 

Kevin Hor 

R. Jeganathan 

Seema Nanoo 

K. Phubalan 

Ravindran Raman Kutty 

Kavickumar Muruganathan 

Editorial Coordinator 

Sarah Zain 

sarah@theplus.my 

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CONTENTS 

GREENPlus TM 

» p.24-25 

» p.8-11 

» p.18 

P8-11 COVER STORY — In overdrive 

Melaka GreenTech Corp oversees and monitors State’s green 

agenda efforts 

P12 What is sustainable city? 

Integrates economic, environmental, and social objectives 

P14-15 SAMB in tandem with the rest 

Water authority ensures citizens not exposed to hazardous 

environment 

P16-17 Melaka joins Earth Hour City Challenge 2015 

EHCC winner to be announced in June 

P18 KMB Solar Farm & Rooftop 

Green activities such as Solar Projects, Green Tourism and Green 

Mobile 

P22-23 Greening the community 

Alor Gajah are multi awards winner 

P24-25 First Electric Bus in Melaka 

Unique feature of these buses is the battery swapping technology 

P26 Empowering Techno Business 

In Sustainable Development 

4 

P27 

Melaka host IMT-GT meeting 

GCAP being implemented in Melaka and Songkhla, and soon in 

Medan and Batam 

P28 No more plastic bags 

Hypermarkets can’t just ignore call to use paper bags 

P30-31 Studying Legal Implications 

Committee formed after meeting on law enforcement coordination 

P32 ‘Kurinka’ (Clinker) method 

Material can absorb and retain 50 per cent of water 

P34-35 Deep in Energy Saving 

Danish company working on nine State buildings 

P36-37 All in need 

Enhancing green practices for special needs children 

P38-39 100 Green hotels by 2018 

Malaysia’s sustainable tourism set to impact hotel industry 


» p.46-48 

» p.71 

» p.44 

» p.72-73 

P40-42 Stepping into Asia 

EcoGreen widening distribution footprint in Asia via Malaysia 

P44 

Urban regeneration 

A vital approach towards competitiveness, vitality and sustainability 

P46-48 Hidden costs 

 

productively 

P50-52 Lessons learnt 

 

P54-55 Malaysia v Romania v Belarus 

 

Malaysia stand? Are European countries far fetched comparisons 

for us? 

P56-57 Learn, Unlearn and Relearn 

Malaysians must change habits to bring about future for our children 

P58-60 Capitalism v Climate Change 

How free market fundamentalism helped overheat the planet and 

how we should react against the invisible hand 

P62-64 Going Green in the blue sea 

In the wake of the landmark COP21 agreement, the shipping 

 

P66-67 Sustainable Palm Oil For All Possibility 

Companies representing about 60 per cent of global palm oil 

production have pledged to eliminate palm oil-related deforestation 

from supply chains 

P68-69 Embracing a Green and Sustainable Future 

Effective learning and networking experience for all for participated 

in Expo 

P70 

UNESCO and Panasonic Partnership 

Educational support programmes for next operation launched in offgrid 

communities in Myanmar 

P71 

Environment Day at Pulau Aman 

Contest to run for three months starting on Dec 12 

P72-73 A Success Story 

Asia’s premier energy-saving innovation show 

P74-76 Ahead of Schedule 

Wyndham Worldwide reaches carbon emissions goal six years 

earlier 

P78-79 Indian Trend-setter 

 

power 

P80 

Events 

6 


Resilient Cities Asia — Pacific 2016 Congress 

By MOHD HAFIZAM MUSTAFFA 

OPERATION MANAGER 

MELAKA GREEN TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION 

In overdrive 

M E L A K A 


JAU 

Melaka GreenTech Corp oversees and monitors State’s green agenda efforts 

SINCE 2010, Melaka established 

a vision to become a green 

technology city State. It was 

inspired by the announcement 

by Prime Minister Dato’ 

Seri Najib Abdul Razak, who 

pledged during the United Nation Framework 

for Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference 

of Parties (COP) 15 in Copenhagen, Denmark 

in 2009 to reduce Malaysia’s carbon intensity 

per Growth Domestic Product (GDP) at 40 

per cent by year 2020. 

Then in 2011, Melaka produced the 

Green Technology City State Blueprint. The 

indicators listed were recommended by the 

Urban Environmental Accords (UEA) to guide 

the way we build and maintain our city streets, 

sewers, building infrastructure, parks and green 

spaces. 

Melaka established the Green Technology 

Council in 2010 and the Melaka Green 

Technology Corporation in 2013 to oversees 

 

Datuk Kamarudin Md Shah, 

CEO Melaka Green Technology Corporation 

green vision. 

In the Melaka Green City State Blueprint, 

the third objective is to upgrade its sustainable 

State status through the application of green 

technology and green approaches. Based 

on the Urban Environmental Accords, 121 

indicators from 21 specific actions or subsectors 

are embedded in policies and strategies 

of the State government to ensure the objective 

to become a green city State can be achieved 

in the areas of energy, water, waste reduction, 

environmental health, urban design, urban 

nature and transportation. 

Apart of that, In April 2013, Melaka was 

chosen as a model city for Malaysia, Songhkla 

for Thailand and Medan for Indonesia, to 

be under the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand 

Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Green City 

Initiatives. This would be the green catalyst 

before all the 32 states and provinces cities 

duplicated the action which will cover almost 

80 million population. 

GREEN CITY ACTION PLAN (GCAP) 

The Melaka Green City Action Plan 

 

city initiatives to educate public about climate 

change, global warming, green technology 

and green practices. With the collaboration of 

centre for IMT-GT Sub-regional Cooperation 

and Asian Development Bank, the Green City 

Action Plan (GCAP) was established. 

There are six main areas in GCAP, such as: 

i. Water management 

ii. Energy efficiency and renewable 

iii. Green transportation 

iv. Zero waste 

v. Cultural heritage and tourism 

vi. And finally, urban forestry and 

agriculture 

The GCAP provides a clear path towards 

 

a comprehensive approach that brings together 

individual actions that have already started, and 

provides clear direction on what needed to be 

done in the future. 

8 



MELAKA CARBON INVENTORY 

Melaka is the first amongst the 14 States 

in Malaysia to prepare its Greenhouse Gas 

(GHG) Emission Inventory and has become 

a shining example, not only in Malaysia 

but within the ASEAN region as well. The 

report gives a clear picture of the total carbon 

emissions and will help plan and implement 

appropriate mitigation programs to reduce 

Melaka’s GHG emissions. 

The GHG Inventory has been prepared 

in accordance with the approved principles 

and standards of the Global Protocol for 

Greenplus TM MARCH 2016 

Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions 

(GPC). This protocol provides internationally 

based methodologies and guidelines to 

assist local governments in quantifying the 

GHG emissions from the whole community 

(residential, commercial, transport, industrial 

and agricultural sectors) within the geographical 

boundaries of cities and regions. Based on the 

International Local Government Greenhouse 

Gas Emissions Analysis Protocol (IEAP) 

(developed by ICLEI in 2009) and other 

recognised protocols, the World Resources 

Institute (WRI), ICLEI, and the C40 Cities 

Climate Leadership Group (C40) - supported 

by the World Bank Group, UN-Habitat and 

UNEP – have jointly developed the GPC. 

The GPC is an international protocol, being 

formalised for international standard reporting 

for sub-national governments across the world. 

The total carbon emission for Melaka has 

been calculated at 1.96 million tonnes of carbon 

dioxide equivalent (TCO2E) for 2013. The per 

capita GHG emission for Melaka is about 2.33 

tonnes of CO2 equivalent (TCO2E), based on 

our population of 842,500 as of 2013. 

The major contributors of carbon emission 

are on-road transportation (59.2%) and 

9


industrial sector (23.1%), followed by the 

commercial & institutional sector (9.0%). 

Residential sector contributes to 3.9% and 

waste contributes to 0.8% of Melaka’s GHG 

emission. 

The preparation of the baseline greenhouse 

gas (GHG) emission inventory for Melaka will 

help to streamline and strengthen the green 

city action plan (GCAP) by incorporating 

climate change, which is a crucial issue for our 

country and the world at this moment and in 

the future. 

NATIONAL SMART COMMUNITY 

PROGRAM – TO DELIVER GCAP 

Melaka is also part of the special program under 

the smart community program at national level 

to implement the GCAP. 

The Melaka government through the 

Melaka Green Technology Corporation, 

with assistance from Malaysian Industry- 

Government Group for High Technology 

(MIGHT), Prime Minister’s Department 

forwarded a ‘Sustainable Cities’ Green Project 

Proposal in Melaka to the Global Environment 

Facility (GEF) through the Ministry for 

Natural Resources and Environment and 

the United Nations Industrial Development 

Organisation (UNIDO). 

Melaka is the first ideal town under the 

National ‘Smart Communities’ Programme 

which was selected in the Global Innovation 

and Science Council Meeting, chaired by the 

Prime Minister, where all council resolutions 

would be carried out by MIGHT as the working 

committee. By being the ideal town, Melaka 

will be a source of reference for MIGHT to set 

development in other towns in Malaysia in the 

11th Malaysia Plan (RMK-11). 

The Sustainable Cities Programme allocated 

 

year period at the initial stage involving 23 

towns in 11 developing countries namely Brazil, 

China, Ivory Coast, India, Malaysia, Mexico, 

Paraguay, Peru, Senegal, South Africa and 

Vietnam. Melaka is among the towns chosen 

for the implementation of the green initiative. 

This programme is expected to establish strong 

networking between the towns which will act 

as sustainable town planning ambassadors with 

 

GREEN HIGHLIGHTS 

Some other ongoing green projects already 

started and implemented in Melaka such as: 

a. Melaka river rehabilitation and beautification 

project – we are transforming from a smelly river 

to tourist destination, it is going to be the San 

Antonio, Texas waterway in Asia. 

b. The Hang Tuah Jaya Green City – a new 

township that focuses on green development norms. 

c. Melaka World Solar Valley – a new township 

that focuses on green and solar technology 

development 

d. We also have 2 massive solar farms in Melaka 

with the total capacity of 13 Megawatt. 

e. Electric buses – we are planning to convert 

our diesel buses to electric buses in our city and 

targeting 40 electric buses to be running in our 

neighborhood this year. 

f. Melaka Green Seal – we also embarking 

on our own green rating tools for residential and 

non-residential buildings. The provisions of the 

Melaka Green Seal are in embedded in our local 

council processes, starting from build permission 

10 



to certification of completion and compliance, thus 

enable us to pass the green knowledge to developers 

and contractors. 

g. There have been no plastic bags for Friday, 

Saturday And Sunday since early this year its 

already implemented everyday from first January 

2016. And no polystyrene usage in the State 

starting September 1, 2015. Melaka promoting 

bio-based biodegradable product to be the 

alternatives. 

INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH 

Melaka is a proud member of ICLEI. The 

membership was granted on November 11, 

 

by connecting the state with over 1000 cities 

all over the world in embarking Melaka on 

a journey to transform it into a resilient and 

sustainable city. 

ICLEI has brought Melaka into various 

international platforms to share and learn from 

other cities via various events such as the 1st 

 

in Bangkok, Resilient Cities 2015 in Bonn, 

2015 ICLEI World Congress in Seoul, Asia 

 

recently UNFCCC COP 21 Summit in Paris. 

After achieving great success from Resilient 

 

its second Asia-Pacific Forum on Urban 

Resilience and Adaptation – Resilient Cities 


 

Equatorial, Melaka from March 1-5, 2016. 

The event will be hosted by Melaka 

government in collaboration with Melaka 

Historic City Council and IMT-GT. ICLEI 

South Asia will be organizing the event, with 

about 500 delegates from all over the world 

attending the conference. 

The main objective of the program is to create 

a space for local governments, institutions and 

communities where they can come together to 

discuss climate resilience in urban areas. 

The event had taken place in Bangkok last 

year and this time it is ready to land in World 

Heritage City, Melaka. This extraordinary 

conference will feature many expert speakers 

on urban resilience development. 

 

to bring more than 200 city representatives from 

all parts of the world; UN organizations such 

as UNEP, UNESCAP, UNHABITAT, UNDP, 

UNESCO, etc; and international organizations 

such as USAID, GIZ, Rockerfeller Foundation, 

 

ADB, World Bank, etc. 

This event is unique as the outcome will be 

highlighted in Habitat III Prepcom meeting 

 

 

 

October 2016 in Quito, Equador. 

Meanwhile, Alor Gajah City Council, Melaka 

will be hosting the Urban Environmental 

Accords (UEA) Summit 2017. 

THE WAY FORWARD 

By the completion of Melaka GHG Emission 

Report 2013, it enables Melaka to indicate the 

main source of emission for the state of Melaka. 

Thus enable Melaka to prepare a very strategic 

approach to mitigate and to reduce the main 

contributor of the emission. 

Melaka has vast knowledge and experience 

the can be share nationally and extended 

throughout the region so the other cities could 

emulate Melaka’s experience in transforming 

the city to become more sustainable and 

resilient. 

Hopefully this approach will accelerate 

Melaka’s vision to become a Green Technology 

City State by the 2020. Perhaps when the time 

passes by; Melaka can foresight its vision to 

become the Carbon Neutral State by the year 

2030. 

11

ECONOMIC 

Competitive 

Cities 

Fostering 

economic growth 

through the 

density 

ENVIRONMENT 

Green & 

Resilient Cities 

Protecting natural 

resources and 

ensuring 

investments as well 

as pro-active risk 

reduction and 

management 

SOCIAL 

Liveable & 

Inclusive Cities 

Ensuring access 

services for 

Rakyat 

1 

National & State policies 

and strategic direction for 

development of sustainable 

cities in Malaysia. 

Awareness & Institutional 

capacity building to related 

stakeholders at the national, 

SCOPE 

Smart 

Grid 

Demo 

Project 

in 

Melaka 

state and local levels. 

2 3 

Smart Cities 

(High adoption of ICT to make cities smarter) 

Email: smartcommunities@might.org.my Tel: +603-83157888 

Email : smartcommunities@might.org.my Tel : +603-83157888


Melaka joins Earth Hour 

City Challenge 2015 

MELAKA was one of the 

Malaysian cities which 

participated in The Earth 

Hour City Challenge 

( EHCC ). The other s 

were Penang, Petaling 

Jaya and Kuching North 

The Earth Hour City Challenge is a year longcompetition 

among cities to promote renewable 

energy and prepare for climate change. EHCC is 

an initiative designed by WWF to mobilize action 

and support from cities in the global transition 

towards a climate friendly, one-planet future and 

to stimulate the development and dissemination 

of best practises for climate change mitigation and 

adaptation. 

It will be run as a recurrent and increasingly 

global challenge for cities to present ambitious, 

holistic, inspiring and credible plans for low 

carbon development and for dramatically increasing 

the use of sustainable and efficient renewable 

energy solutions in the next few decades. 

The program is supported by documentation 

EHCC winner to be announced in June 

reporting by agencies / local authorities on 

climate data. MBMB has committed to participate 

in EHCC and reported all the green initiatives 

that have been implemented to meet the aspirations 

of Melaka state government to create the 

city of Melaka as a low-carbon and green technology 

state. 

Clean air for smaller cities 

A few actions that have been reported for 

Melaka Historic City Council are the Clean 

Air for Smallest Cities Project, Melaka River 

Rehabilitation Project, green mobility, tree planting, 

renewable energy, waste management and a 

few more. 

MBMB held a two-day Workshop & Data 

THE Project “Clean Air for Smaller 

Cities in the ASEAN Region” ( CASC 

) is funded by the German Federal 

Ministry for Economic Cooperation 

and Development ( BMZ ) and implemented 

by German International 

Cooperation ( GIZ ) in cooperation 

with ASEAN Secretariat. It aims to 

empower local governments of smaller 

cities to develop and implement Clean 

Air Plan ( CAP ) in order to improve 

living conditions. 

The city of Melaka is the CASC participant 

city in Malaysia. Under CASC 

, an Emissions Inventory ( EI ) was 

conducted for Melaka City in collaboration 

with MBMB, JAS and partner 

university UTeM . 

Emission inventory covers the area 

of Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah 

( MBMB ) municipality, covering 

the approximated area of 273 km2 . 

The aims of Emission Inventory are 

to evaluate the air quality status and 

to evaluate the effectiveness of the 

policy. Besides, purpose of Emission 

Inventory is to identify emission 

sources, determine the level of compliance 

with the quality standard limits 

emissions and determine ambient air 

monitoring sites. 

MBMB had organised Clean Air 

Plan Prioritization Workshop on 2 

September 2015 and attended by 

16 



Planning for Resilient Cities seminar and 

 

on Urban Resilience And Adaptation in 

conjunction with the 16TH International 

Convention on Melaka Twin Cities 

Collection for Earth Hour City Challenge 

Program and were attended by Department of 

Environment, JKR, SW Corporation, UTEM, 

Melaka Green Technology Corporation, 

Indah Water Konsortium and MBMB internal 

department. 

This workshop aimed to gather all the information 

needed to fulfill the criteria in the EHCC registration 

form. In December 2015, the evaluation 

process began to identify the finalist and on June 

2016 the Global Earth Hour Capital and We Love 

Cities winner will be announced. 

Datuk Zainal Hussin , mayor of Melaka, gave his closing 

speech and give fully support to the Clean Air for 

Smaller Cities Project. 

related agencies; Department of Environment, 

Melaka Green Tech Corporation, JPJ, SPAD, 

UPEN, UTeM and also MBMB internal department. 

This workshop is focused on discussion 

the findings from Emission Inventory and presentation 

of CASC project and achievements by 

Junior Advisor of GIZ, Julia Nagel. 


ON 29th October 2015, Melaka Historic City 

Council organised Special Meeting and Soft Launch 

of the 2nd Asia Pacific Forum On Urban Resilience 

and Adaptation in conjunction with the 16th 

International Convention on Melaka Twin Cities 

2016 at Equatorial Hotel, Melaka. 

During the Special Meeting session, Datuk Zainal 

Hussin , mayor of Melaka Historic City Council had 

present the preparation and also program planning 

before and during the event. Melaka is expecting 

full support and cooperation in all forms of financial, 

speakers, exhibitions and other forms of support. 

Emani Kumar, the Regional Director of ICLEI 

South East Asia Secretariat presents about ICLEI and 

Programs during the event on 2nd to 4th March 2016. 

This event will attract more than 100 mayors from all 

of South East Asia region. Melaka is expecting thousands 

of participants during the event. There will be 

few parallel sessions conducted by various agencies 

and the topic will be focusing on urban resilience. 

The Resilient City Seminar & Soft Launch of 

the 2nd Asia-Pacific Forum on Urban Resilience 

and Adaptation in conjunction with the 16th 

International Convention on Melaka Twin Cities 

officiated by the Chief Minister of Melaka, Datuk 

Seri Ir. Idris Haron. 

He said that this special occasion on 2016 as the 

State of Melaka and ICLEI have agreed that The 

International Twin Cities Convention is going to be a 

platform for information sharing and mutual support 

between city governments towards promoting cooperation, 

smart partnership and mutual prosperity. 

The events will be inaugurated by the Prime 

Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak. 

The Congress supports the vision of the Hon. Prime 

Minister to ensure the development of a climate resilient 

Malaysia. 

17

RESILIENT CITIES ASIA—PACIFIC CONGRESS 

KMB Solar 

Farm & 

Rooftop 

AS investments arm for State 

Government of Melaka, 

Kumpulan Melaka Berhad 

(KMB) is committed to 

accelerate and generate economic 

development in and 

out of Malacca. This has been proven by KMB 

with implementation a lot of green activities 

such as two Solar Projects, Green Tourism 

and Green Mobile. 

A) Project has been completed on 09 June 

2011 with Net Metering System. Efforts are 

underway to get the 'Feed In Tariff '. 

B) Project consists of 3 phases that have 

received FITCD from SEDA on: 

— Phase 1 (1.30MWp) - 21 April 2013 

— Phase 2 (1.22MWp) - May 24, 2013 

— Phase 3 (2.48MWp) - August 9, 2013 

KMB solar 

aircond 

Ir. KHAIRULEZUAN HARUN 

Comos Ecoride & 

Electric Scooter 

Ecm-11 (Eclimo) 

These 2 green mobile has become Melaka’s 

famous green tourism product since 2014. 

Operation is based at the prominent Melaka 

Taming Sari. Tourists may rent with a good rate. 

KMB Green Tourism 

KMB’s reserve and recreational forests offers activities such as hiking, outdoor extreme 

park, raptor watch, team building and training centre. 

Ayer Keroh Botanical Forest 

Batu Lebah Reserve Forest 

KMB now involve with new technology 

for air cond that called Solar Air Cond. 

This new technology will carter half of the 

air-conditioning system electricity supply. 

Sungai Udang Reserve Forest 

Tanjung Tuan Lighthouse, Port Dickson 

18 


Resilient Cities Asia - Pacific 2016 Congress 

A 

FEW years ago Melaka embarked 

on a journey to become a “Green 

City State”. Now, the State is busy 

setting up an example of how 

efforts from local governments 

can ensure environmentally sustainable 

economic development. 

Melaka’s alliance with the global association of 

local authorities, regions and sub-national authorities 

ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, 

datesback to 2014, when the State became a member 

city of the association. 

Soon after, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ir. Idris 

Haron decided to develop a Greenhouse Gas 

Emission Inventory Report for Melaka and its cities, 

in order to track the baseline and to further assess the 

impact of implementing the GCAP. The report, prepared 

in collaboration with ICLEI South Asia and 

ICLEI Southeast Asia, was released at COP 21 in 

Paris in December 2015. The report has defined the 

baseline for the State and paved the way for the next 

step of the project – preparation of GHG emission 

inventories forthe four urban local governments in 

three districts of Melaka (Melaka, Alor Gajah and 

Jasin District). 

Smallest of 14 States in Malaysia, Melaka aspires to 

become Green Technology City State by 2020. With 

an objective of translating this vision into reality, last 

year, Melaka decided to host the Second Resilient 

Cities Asia Pacific Congress and invited over 600 dignitaries 

from across the region and the globe to deliberate 

on multiple aspects of urban climate resilience. 

SYNERGY FOR ENERGY 

Melaka’s quest to ensure sustainable economic 

growth started with the adoption of Green 

Technology Blueprint in 2011. The State also defined 

a target of 20 per cent renewable energy contribution 

to its total energy consumption by 2020. In addition, 

Melaka established the Melaka Green Technology 

Corporation for the purpose of overseeing efforts 

to achieve the vision and also adopted the United 

Nations Urban Environmental Accords to assess its 

green city performance. Later, in September 2012, the 

State was chosen as a model city in Malaysia, under 

the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle 

(IMT-GT) Green City Initiatives, along with Medan 

Green dream 

for Melaka and ICLEI 

Melaka aspires to become Green Technology City State by 2020 

6th Global Forum on Urban Resilience & Adaptation IN BONN, GERMANY 

in Indonesia and Songkhla in Thailand among the 

pilot cities. 

The 2013 report for an inventory prepared with 

the approved principles and standards of the Global 

Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas 

Emissions (GPC) gives a picture of Melaka’s total 

carbon emissions and forms the basis to plan and 

develop mitigation programmes to reduce emissions. 

For the purpose of preparing the inventory, 

Harmonized Emission Analysis Tool Plus (HEAT+), 

an emissions accounting software developed by 

ICLEI, has been used andthe GHGs considered in 

the GHG emission inventory are carbon dioxide 

(CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrogen oxide (N2O). 

“The report captures fundamental information 

on energy profile and emissions. It can help us take 

informed decisions to undertake mitigation and 

adaptation measures to reduce the carbon emissions 

of Melaka,” said Datuk Kamarudin Md Shah, 

Chief Executive Officer of Melaka Green Technology 

Corporation, only department of its kind in Malaysia, 

during the release. 

Much of Melaka’s inspiration also comes from 

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s declaration 

in 2009 “that Malaysia is adopting a commitment of 

a voluntary reduction of up to 40 per cent in terms 

of emissions intensity of GDP by the year 2020 compared 

to 2005 levels”. 

Now, the Eleventh Malaysian Plan, the national 

government’s flagship development strategy for the 

years 2015-2020, also seeks to attain high income 

status for Malaysia while recognizing the need 

to be inclusive and environmentally sustainable. 

Formulation of Melaka’s Green City Action Plan, with 

support from Asian Development Bank, is another 

leap ahead for the state. 

THE ROAD AHEAD 

Melaka’s commitment to sustainability and its association 

with ICLEI is progressively and systematically 

developing over the years. With financial support 

from ADB and technical support from ICLEI, Melaka 

state is currently developing a Green City Indicator 

and Benchmark System and a “PINTAR” tool, which 

will be used to monitor implementation of the GCAP. 

The “PINTAR” tool is modelled after ICLEI’s flagship 

ecoBUDGET tool. In June 2015, Datuk Seri 

Idris enlightened the audience at the Resilient Cities 

Congress in Bonn, Germany, where he spoke about 

how some local and regional governments are leading 

actions to build resilience in cities. Besides, Melaka 

mayors were present at the ICLEI World Congress 

2015, in Seoul, South Korea along with the Melaka 

state Executive Council member (Exco) for State education, 

higher education, science & technology, green 

technology and innovation). The Seoul Declaration – 

a document that sets out a clear path to global urban 

sustainability – was then officially adopted by ICLEI 

World Congress participants, ICLEI members, partners, 

and other local governments. 

In the post COP 21 and Sustainable Development 

Goals (SDGs) world, Melaka’s zeal for climate resilience 

and its collaboration with partners or organizations 

that share and enable this vision, is an inspiration 

for many. 

Greenplus TM MARCH 2016 19

Alor Gajah 

Jasin 

Hang Tuah Jaya 

Melaka Tengah


Melaka host 

IMT-GT meeting 

GCAP being implemented in Melaka and Songkhla, and soon in Medan and Batam 

THE Indonesia-Malaysia- 

Thailand Growth Triangle 

is a sub-regional economic 

cooperation program 

aimed at spurring economic 

development in 

participating provinces and States in the three 

countries. 

The IMT-GT focuses on enhancing trade and 

investment opportunities, tourism, strengthening 

infra¬structure links and institutional 

arrangements, amongst others, to achieve a 

vision of “a seamless, progressive, prosperous 

and peaceful subregion with improved quality 

of life.” 

The 9thIMT-GT Chief Ministers and 

Governors Forum (CMGF) held in early 

September 2012 proposed to pursue a new 

initiative for Green Cities in IMT-GT. The 

proposal was deliberated and supported by 

IMT-GT Ministers during the 18th IMT-GT, 

Ministerial Meeting held at Port Dickson on 

Sept 27, 2012. 

The IMT-GT requested the ADB to further 

elaborate on the proposed concept of urban 

sustainable urban development, which could 

be applied in the subregion and potentially to 

other Member States of ASEAN, linking with 

ASEAN’s larger effort in developing sustainable 

cities. 

In this regard, the ADB agreed to assist the 

cities of Melaka (in Malaysia), Songkhla (in 

Thailand), Medan and Batam (in Indonesia) to 

develop a comprehensive green city action plan 

(GCAP). The action plan takes into account 

existing Green City frameworks, development 

master plans, and planned anchor projects to 

identify potential actions and projects that will 

support these communities to become models 

of urban sustainability. 

Melaka has prepared the first GCAP as part 

of this initiative and will set an example that 

will be emulated by other cities within the 

subregion. 

The IMT-GT Green Cities Initiatives was 

formally endorsed by the 7th IMT-GT Summit 

on April 25, 2013 in Brunei, where the leaders 

also welcomed the designation of Melaka, 

Songkhla and Medan, as the first three priority 

cities participating in this initiative. 

The 9thIMT-GT Summit on April 28, 2015 

in Langkawi applauded the initiative on the 

Green Cities Action Plan (GCAP) being 

implemented in Melaka and Songkhla, and 

soon to be implemented in Medan and Batam. 

The leaders have emphasised the need for 

continued individual and collective actions to 

mitigate environmental impacts, including the 

increasing risks posed by climate change. 

The leaders have directed IMT-GT to scale 

up successful GCAP models, and work towards 

developing a Sustainable Urban Development 

Framework for IMT-GT cities. The implementation 

of the action plans under this subregional 

framework could open new investment 

opportunities, with the private sector to bring 

in financing, technical knowledge and innovation 

to this process. 

Further to the Summit directive the 

12thChief Ministers and Governors Forum 

(CMGF) in Alor Setar have endorsed the Joint 

proposal by CIMT, ICLEI and ADB to establish 

the IMT-GT Green Council to oversee 

the establishment and the implementation 

of SUD. CMGF also agreed with the suggestion 

by Melaka to host the 1st IMT-GT Green 

Council Meeting on Mar 1, 2015 back to back 

with 2nd Resilient City Asia Pacific Congress 

(RCAP).

ARCHITECTURE 

100 Green hotels by 2018 

Malaysia’s sustainable tourism set to impact hotel industry 

WITH the slowing 

down of the global 

economy, greater 

efforts are being 

undertaken by 

various stakeholders 

to increase tourist arrivals to Malaysia. 

The hotel industry is actively looking at ways 

to boost arrivals as well as spending, mainly 

by improving key components of the tourist 

industry especially in terms of services and 

resources. 

In line with global trend and in view of 

increasingly discerning consumers both 

locally and globally, Malaysia is actively 

embarking on greening the hotel industry to 

maintain its competitiveness. Cheah Swee 

Hee, President of Malaysian Association of 

Hotels said: “We are targeting 100 green 

hotels to be certified over the next 

2 to 3 years. Over the span of two 

years, we have seen more and more 

hotels working towards it, and as of 

November 2015, there are approximately 

14 green hotels certified.” 

On the slow adoption of green 

hotels, Cheah elaborated: “The 

common barriers to the greening 

of industrial sector include a lack of 

awareness on the investment outlay 

and payback period. However, the 

eventual operational cost savings 

should suffice making hotel owners 

decide on greening their properties. 

We hope to see more adoption, as the 

world is constantly looking at sustainable 

ways to protect Mother Earth.” 

Malaysia’s leading total coating 

solutions provider, Nippon Paint 

Malaysia Group (“Nippon Paint”) 

together with the Malaysian 

Association of Hotels (MAH) and 

Malaysia Green Building Confederation 

(MGBC) recently organised the 3rd MAH- 

Nippon Paint Green Hotel Seminar 2015, 

aimed at educating and engaging both hotel 

owners as well as various industry stakeholders 

from across Malaysia. 

The seminar included case studies and lectures 

on regulatory standards pertinent to 

sustainable hotel properties. Notable speakers 

include veterans in the green agenda 

38 

such as Ar. Sarly Adre Sarkum, President 

of Malaysia Green Building Confederation 

(MGBC), Cheah, Anthony Wong, Group 

Managing Director of Asian Overland 

Services Tour & Travels and Ir. Chen Thiam 

Leong, Co-Chairman of Green Building Index 

Advisory Panel (GBIAP). 

“The adoption of the ‘green movement’ 

We are targeting 100 green hotels to be 

 

 

 

 

 

— Cheah Swee Hee, President of 

Malaysian Association of Hotels 

has become a cross-industry 

phenomenon, and now has been extended 

to hotels as they consume a huge amount of 

resources. Indeed, there is an urgent and critical 

need to adopt sustainable measures for the 

hotel industry in Malaysia. The establishment 

of the Green Building Index (GBI) rating for 

new hotels, existing hotels, new resorts and 

existing resorts has had a catalytic effect on 

the industry and has motivated more industry 

players to look into various ways to green their 

properties,” said Sarly. 

The Green Building Index (GBI) is 

Malaysia’s green rating tools for buildings 

and townships, created to promote sustainability 

in the built-environment. GBI is developed 

specifically to suit the Malaysian tropical 

climate, environmental and developmental 

context, cultural and social needs. GBI 

launched The GBI Hotels & Resorts Tool in 

February 2014 which covers six key criteria 

- Energy Efficiency, Indoor Environmental 

Quality, Sustainable Site Planning and 

Management, Materials and Resources, Water 

Efficiency and Innovation. 

Currently, over approximately 150 million 

square feet of building gross floor area have 

been officially certified by GBI in Malaysia, 

encompassing 

industrial, commercial as well as residential 

buildings. Since 2014, 46 hotel projects 

in Malaysia have applied for Green Hotel & 

Resorts certifications, of which 14 have been 

successfully certified to date. Recent certifications 

include Alila Bangsar Hotel and St. Regis 

in Kuala Lumpur. 

According to Chen, most progressive hotels 

or resorts are already practicing part of ‘green 

practices’ without realising it. These would 


ARCHITECTURE 

include efficient energy control in terms of 

lighting, rainwater harvesting, waste recycling, 

or even greeneries around the establishment. 

“Hence, to merely push the boundary 

of their efforts slightly, these premises will 

qualify for green certification through a few 

additional green features – the implementation 

would generally be low in cost but with 

excellent return on investment. Well informed 

hotel owners will appreciate the resource 

savings, in addition to an improved image of 

their brand for its initiative to reduce carbon 

footprints,” said Chen. 

While some key criteria’s like Water 

Efficiency and Sustainable Site Planning 

may require additional resources, according 

to Daniel Yong, General Manager of 

Nippon Paint Sabah, criteria such as Indoor 

Environmental Quality can 

easily be achieved through 

selecting the right coatings, 

and not just having green 

structures or architecture. 

“Most are unaware of the 

functional value of paint. In 

addition to creating a certain 

ambience, paint also has 

functional elements such as 

the ability to absorb formaldehyde 

or reducing external 

building surface temperature, 

thus improving indoor air 

quality. These form some of 

the requirements within the 

GBI rating,” said Yong. 

“The hotel industry being 

at the forefront of international 

exposure, are in the 

position to take on a leadership 

role in driving the sustainable 

agenda. By adopting 

green and sustainable practices 

into our operations, not 

only are we raising the benchmark of the 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

— Ar. Sarly Adre Sarkum, President 

of Malaysia Green Building 

Confederation (MGBC) 

industry, we are also influencing and educating 

the public on the importance 

of green practices as well.” 

Nippon Paint recently underwent a corporate 

and brand repositioning, turning from 

“The Paint Expert” to “The Coatings Expert”, 

with the ability to serve multi-segments in 

the coatings industry such as Architectural, 

Protective, Industrial, Automotive and Marine 

as well as the capabilities to coat multi-surfaces 

from metal to wood, tiles, cement, slate, glass 

and even plastic. Be it decorative, protective 

or functional coatings, Nippon Paint continuously 

stays at the forefront of delivering innovative, 

‘industry-first’ coating solutions. 

Yong added: “Leveraging on our leadership 

position as Malaysia’s leading total coating 

solutions provider, Nippon Paint has been and 

is always driven by our Total Green Solution 

philosophy — pioneering innovative 

and effective coating solutions. 

Over the years, Nippon 

Paint has spearheaded a series 

of industry-first innovations in 

the market. 

“Innovations that has benefited 

hoteliers in search of coatings 

that are not only aesthetically 

pleasing but functionally 

proven to increase inhabitant 

comfort as well. We were the 

first to launch Nippon Odourless 

AirCare, which can improve 

indoor air quality by absorbing 

harmful formaldehyde. 

“On the exterior side, 

Nippon Paint’s Weatherbond 

Solareflect reduces external 

surface temperature by up to 

five degrees Celsius for better 

indoor comfort.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

— Daniel Yong, General Manager of 

Nippon Paint Sabah 


39

ENVIRONMENT 

Stepping into Asia 

EcoGreen widening distribution footprint in Asia via Malaysia 

In 2011, Environmental Technologies 

Group Pty Ltd ( ETG ) invested in 

a new bottling facility in Malaysia to 

supply products to customers in a 

cost-competitive manner. 

The company is on the lookout for 

partners in Malaysia to distribute into a variety of 

markets as well as export to other countries in the 

region. ETG will be manufacturing some products 

in Malaysia within the next 24 months and will look 

to export to markets, including Japan and the USA. 

ETG is constantly developing new products for 

a variety of markets and has this year developed 

12 new products. A number of these products are 

high quality commercial hand soaps that have low 

carbon footprint and are now supplied in large 

quantities in Australia; a range which the company 

is now looking to bring to Malaysia and neighbouring 

countries. 

In an interview with GREENplus, ETG 

Managing Director David Campbell speaks about 

his hopes and aspirations and especially why 

Malaysia is the stepping stone. 

Could you share with me a little about the background 

of the company? How ETG came to be 

and company milestones? 

A: ETG was formed in Western Australia in 

1999. The company originally focused on the 

development of bacterial applications to broad 

acre horticulture. Whilst we developed an excellent 

product it was not economical for farmers as 

it was cheaper to apply more cheap fertilizer. The 

exposure gained in working with primary industry 

allowed us to explore the treatment of waste 

water with bacterial solutions. This original development 

led to the eventual development of our 

unique formula for the suspension of live bacterial 

strains in pre treated water. 

How is your product different? What is your 

USP? 

A: In 2004 the company developed a process 

allowing us to add various bacterial strains to pretreated 

water enabling us to keep the bacteria 

alive in a container for a lengthy period of time, a 

minimum of 18 months, and in greater concentrations 

than available in other formats. 

David 

Campbell 

The suspension of the bacteria in a liquid form 

meant that our product could incorporate various 

bacterial strains meaning that our products would 

be more dependable in a variety of waste environments. 

Most bacterial solutions are sourced from 

the application of freeze dried bacteria which is then 

later added to water, the freeze drying process eliminate 

bacterial strains other than the bacillus strain 

as well as a vastly reduced concentration of bacteria. 

The bacteria packaged in this manner also 

has a much smaller shelf life. Our unique selling 

point is, more available strains of bacteria, many 

times more concentrated and a much longer shelf 

life of the product. We are also able to package 

ing 

options enabling it to be used for a variety of 

commercial applications. This has brought easily 

managed product to a variety of industries that 

could not access bacterial solutions for their day 

to day problems. 

How exactly does the product work? 

A: 

released at the source of the problem and consume 

the available food source, waste in this case and 

degrade it. The concentration of bacterial strains 

introduced greatly outnumber the bad bacteria that 

would normally feed on the waste and outcompete 

them for the available food source. 

A process called competitive inhibition. All of 

our bacterial strains are non-pathogenic, meaning 

they will not cause disease or illness to animal life. 

The variety of strains incorporated also mean the 

in harsh and varying environments where one bacterial 

strain may not be suited, it is not a problem 

for our product as there are others available that 

will survive and attack the source of the problem. 

 

is that it remedies the source of the problem and 

not the symptoms. 

Aren’t environmentally friendly products costly 

to produce? 

A: Some environmentally friendly products are 

expensive to produce and are not competitive on a 

commercial basis due to the high cost. Our particular 

range of products was very expensive to develop 

but now that this has been done we can manufacture 

at a competitive cost. 

Given the cost pressure on the supply of products 

to the commercial market this means that it 

will take a bit longer than normal to recoup our 

 

that the eventual volume of product achieved will 

justify the research undertaken and development 

costs expended. 

There are a lot of customers looking for environmentally 

friendly solutions but have been put 

 

performance that have been associated with products 

of this type in the past. Now that we have over- 

 

that customers will embrace the products and the 

 

How is having a factory in Subang Jaya, Malaysia 

working out for you cost wise? 

A: One of our primary reasons for investing in 

Malaysia was the available cost savings. The high 

cost of manufacture in Australia did not allow us to 

compete in the Asian market. The product made in 

Malaysia is also sent back to Australia for our customers 

there as well, not just as exports into the 

40 


ENVIRONMENT 

Building of aeration system 

Asian market. The reduced manufacturing cost is 

 

ETG is looking for local partners / distributors 

to expand your network in Malaysia and regionally. 

How and when did ETG begin penetrating 

the Asian market? 

A: ETG have had an ongoing presence in the 

Asian market in some form since 2005. Originally 

a lot of our research and development was undertaken 

in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand 

where we could access the commercial aquaculture 

market. 

We made the commitment to our current facility 

in 2011 when it became obvious to us that we 

needed to establish a presence in the region. From 

this facility we have been supplying products to 11 

countries in the region working particularly closely 

with one large customer as they use our product and 

 

own very competitive market. 

We are looking to add more distributors/partners 

that have exposure to some of our target 

markets and can help us grow business in these 

markets throughout the region. We have a unique 

 

for a variety of industries, we also recognize that our 

best skills lie in the development and manufacturing 

of solutions. 

We want to work closely with distributors who 

have access to our target markets and have a deep 

understanding of the market as well as the customers 

and what their need are. We are prepared to 

continue to develop products to suit particular customer 

needs wherever they may be. 

Why pick Malaysia as a hub to expand to the rest 

of Asia and beyond? 

A: There were a number of reasons why Malaysia 

was the ideal location for us to expand our business 

into Asia. Whilst it was not the lowest cost alternative 

it was very economical compared to manufac- 

 

 

Malaysia is not only centrally located in the 

region allowing us to export with a fair degree of 

ease to other countries but English is commonly 

spoken so it is easier to do business there than a lot 

 

Trade Agreement with Australia, this allows us to 

transport stock in and out of Malaysia without the 

additional cost of import duties. 

The Malaysian Government is also very supportive 

of science based businesses and see this as good 

growth potential for investment. There are also a 

number of markets in Malaysia itself that we are 

 

a number of unique advantages and will be well 

received. 

When compared to other countries in the region 

ment 

for us to develop and grow a strong export 

business. 

Whilst we also have the option to employ expats 

in the business we have only employed local candidates 

to date and intend to stick with this practice 

for the future, there is a strong focus in Malaysia on 

the quality of education and we believe, and have 

experienced to date, that there are many well educated 

hard working people in Malaysia that will help 

 

What are your plans for Malaysia and the rest 

of Asia? 

A: Our long term vision is to continue to develop 

Greenplus TM MARCH 2016 41

ENVIRONMENT 

Algae prevention treatment of holding pond 

in the region and eventually even relocate our head 

 

markets that we want to get close to and work in 

a variety of innovative partnerships both with customers 

and distributors. 

This is best practiced with a strong presence and 

basing yourself closer to your customers. As the 

business continues to grow we will look to expand 

our science base beyond Australia and move that 

into the region as well, it is our intention wo build 

relationships with educational facilities and other 

science based businesses to increase the depth and 

credibility of the product range. 

Could you share with us your current range of 

products? 

A: We currently have over 25 products in the 

range targeting four main areas of use, Cleaning 

Products, Sanitisers, Odour Control and Waste 

Water Remediation are where our products are 

currently used. We have products such as General 

Purpose Cleaners, Bathroom Cleaners and Floor 

Cleaners that are used by the Hotel and Cleaning 

industries. 

 

of waste water of all types. Odour control products 

that can be used from domestic to large commercial 

applications. A unique range of sanitisers including 

two patented products, a long lasting surface 

sanitiser that will continue to kill germs on a hard 

42 

surface for up to 30 days and air sanitiser that will 

kill airborne bacteria and mould. Even our Hand 

sanitiser is Alcohol Free contains skin moisturis- 

 

Which type of product / market segment would 

you say is the bulk of your revenue coming from? 

A: The washroom and hygiene service industry 

is currently one of our largest areas of supply. 

Our bacterial products are currently used in over 

200,000 public and commercial washrooms every 

day to control the waste and odour emanating from 

the toilet and urinal systems. 

Our sanitisers are used to control harmful bacteria 

in the air and on the hard surfaces throughout 

the washroom environment. Health acre and 

educational facilities are building within our business 

as is the hospitality market through the provision 

of goods to hotels for cleaning and sanitizing 

purposes. 

Treatment of commercial waste in grease traps 

is something that we are also working on developing 

in the region as we have been doing this for a 

number of years in Australia. 

Any plans to explore other industries which may 

provide avenues for revenue? 

A: Yes, we spent many years researching the 

Aquaculture market and waste water remediation. 

We have a range of products that can be applied to 

these industries and we see this as one our larger 

potential markets given the enormity of the issues 

surrounding waste water. Commercial waste from 

manufacturing, healthcare, education and primary 

industry are key targets for us. 

What is your outlook for the industry in the 

current economic climate? 

A: Very positive. People are looking for environmentally 

responsible solutions to their everyday 

problems and we can provide that. There is 

the common misconception that an environmentally 

solution will either cost more or not work as 

well as a chemical solution. 

 

products will outperform harsh or toxic chemical 

alternatives and do so at a more than competitive 

 

we still have to win business on a price basis as our 

 

businesses and this will continue to put pressure on 

our selling margins. 

ers 

will start to pay more attention to the environment 

and their impact on it. More and more companies 

are becoming accredited to ISO 14001, the 

Environmental Management Standard and we 

can help them with this while saving them money 

and providing them with solutions they never had 

before. 


ARCHITECTURE 

Urban regeneration 

A vital approach towards competitiveness, vitality and sustainability 

OVER 500 participants 

gathered for the 7th 

International Conference 

on World Class 

Sustainable Cities 2015 

(WCSC 2015) in Kuala 

Lumpur on Sept 29 to listen to, learn from, and 

engage with one another on issues of better city 

planning. 

World class speakers Stephen Luoni (Director 

of the University of Arkansas Community 

Design Center, Arkansas), Dyan Currie 

(Director of Planning & Environment, Gold 

Coast, Australia), Sascha Haselmayer (CEO 

of CityMart, Barcelona Spain) and Catarina 

Rolfsdotter-Jansson (Journalist, Moderator 

and Innovator from Malmo, Sweden), globally 

renowned for their innovative ideas and excellent 

achievements in urban regeneration, shared 

with an audience consisting of professionals 

(architects & planners), developers, city managers 

and members of the public that included 

representatives of Residents Associations from 

Kuala Lumpur. 

This annual conference is co-organised by the 

Real Estate & Housing Developers Association 

Malaysia Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur 

(REHDA KL), the Malaysian Institute of 

Planners (MIP), and the Malaysian Institute 

of Architects (PAM), and is supported and 

endorsed by City Hall Kuala Lumpur (DBKL). 

 

now in its seventh year. It is organised to bring 

together ideas and best practices on what makes 

cities sustainable places to live and work in, as 

well as to increases the awareness of our city 

dwellers and other stakeholders on what makes 

a city great. 

“We are also happy to note that WCSC’s 

impact has gone beyond the boundaries of 

Kuala Lumpur. Each year, more and more local 

councils from across Malaysia have sent representatives 

to this conference. This year, we had 

over 20 federal ministries and local councils 

from across Malaysia,” said Datuk N.K. Tong, 

Organising Chairman of WCSC 2015 from 

REHDA KL. 

Previous WCSCs have focused on various 

topics, including the transformation of 

Cheongyecheon River in Seoul, Korea, the city 

Exhibit photos 

and master plan 

VVIPs walking 

through the entrance 

transportation solutions for Curitiba, Brazil, the 

metamorphosis of Kaohsiung, Taiwan from an 

industrial polluter to an ecological tourist hub 

and demonstrating that liveable cities are creative 

and competitive. 

This year, WCSC 2015 focused on the 

theme of “Urban Regeneration Through Smart 

Partnerships”. 

“We have searched across the globe for world 

class ideas and speakers to share an impactful 

day with us. There are also Master Classes that 

will be conducted in smaller groups on a separate 

day, led by our esteemed speakers, to delve 

into greater details on the opportunities for the 

future urban regeneration of Kuala Lumpur,” 

added Khairiah Talha from MIP. 

In previous years, WCSC conference speakers 

 

perceptions to the Kuala Lumpur project that 

followed. The Cheongyecheon River restoration 

was a great prelude to the Kuala Lumpur River 

of Life project, the Curitiba experience in transforming 

the city’s buses and MRT, and pedestrianisation 

projects that include covered walkway 

systems to make cities for the people. 

“We are especially excited this year, as WCSC 

 

Mayors/Governor’s Meeting (MGM). It is a 

great opportunity for Kuala Lumpur to showcase 

and lead the way in urban regeneration within 

 

from PAM. 

In conjuction with WCSC 2015, the winners of 

the “Photography Competition” themed “Urban 

Regeneration Through Smart Partnership” were 

also announced and prizes were given out by 

Datuk Loga Bala Mohan Jaganathan, Deputy 

Minister in Ministry of Federal Territories, who 

 

44 


An interior design competition for a new integrated mall 

America Europe Asia 

This is so that each floor becomes a slice of the world, a representative continent encapsulating 

the essence, the characteristics and identities of its capital cities, to bring extraordinary 

experiences to visitors. 

designers the world over to make this vision a reality. 

INTERNATIONAL 

JURY PANEL 

Elim Chew 

Singapore 

Thomas Chung 

Hong Kong 

Martin Duplantier 

France 

Rodrigo Marcondes Ferraz 

Brazil 

Craig Menzies 

South Africa 

Kuldej Sinthawanarong 

Thailand 

Organised by 

for

COLUMN 

Hidden costs 

 

 

Looking at a recent study conducted by the 

World Bank, we explore the hidden personal 

and societal costs of traffic congestion in 

Kuala Lumpur and explore the advantages 

of greener and healthier transport choices 

like bicycling. 

the tailpipe exhaust fumes from wasted fuel. 

‘TIME IS MONEY’ 

Time spent stuck in traffic could have been 

used more productively. This is what economists 

call “opportunity cost”. For example, 

instead of wasting time in traffic you could 

have put another productive hour at work. The 

World Bank has estimated that the annual cost 

of delays due to congestion, taking into account 

the monetary value of a person’s time in Kuala 

Lumpur, is RM10-20 billion. This is the value 

of the total time lost due to people sitting in 

traffic doing nothing productive. Notably, this 

also amounts to 1 million wasted hours per day! 

Other direct costs include the amount of 

fuel wasted in traffic. This is calculated with the 

extra running-time, which can be translated to 

extra petrol used in stop-go traffic. This figure 

annually for KL translates to approximately 

RM1-2 billion worth of extra petrol wasted 

because of congestion. 

This extra petrol burnt obviously means 

greater environmental/social damage. From a 

recent International Monetary Fund study, the 

environmental cost to society, primarily due to 

air pollution, from using one litre of petrol is 

RM2.20. This adds another RM1.0-2.5 billion 

to the cost of congestion in Kuala Lumpur per 

year. 

SLOW TRAFFIC, FASTER DEATH 

Apart from direct hidden costs, what about 

indirect hidden costs? These include degradation 

of public health by inducing physically inactive 

lifestyles and stress from traffic congestion. 

The morning and afternoon 

commute, the hours spent 

driving those dreaded 

kilometers to and from 

work, have you ever wondered 

how much sitting 

in a traffic jam really costs you and Malaysia? 

Many developing Asian cities are finding it 

difficult to cope with the growth of urbanization 

and increased car ownership. How is the 

resulting traffic congestion adversely affecting 

our development? Studies this year by economists 

at the World Bank have shown that in 

2014, economic losses due to traffic congestion 

in Greater Kuala Lumpur was estimated at 

around RM20 billion per year or RM54 million 

every day! The majority of this cost is associated 

with lost productivity, followed by wasted 

fuel costs and environmental damage caused by 

46 


COLUMN 

A city built around the car means less space for 

pedestrians and cyclists. According to a report 

from the World Health Organization (WHO), 

Malaysia has one of the most physically inactive 

populations in the world, with more than 50% 

of the population classified as being “inactive”, 

while the global average is only at about 20%. 

Being “inactive” is classified as having less than 

150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per 

week, such as a brisk walk. Compared to countries 

with a strong cycling culture, Malaysia is 

more than three times inactive than 

for example the Netherlands (The 

Economist). The UK Department of 

Health has termed inactivity as the 

“silent killer” or “the new smoking”. 

This should come as no surprise as 

the lack of physical exercise is known 

to lead to various dangerous health 

conditions such as obesity, diabetes, 

heart disease and various forms of 

cancer (WHO). 

Long congested morning and 

afternoon commutes are also associated 

with higher stress levels. In 

Malaysia, a report by the renowned 

market analysis consultants, Frost & 

Sullivan, discovered that over 40% of 

Malaysians found road congestion as 

their number one frustration. In the 

long run, excessive stress can have 

health consequences, which will be 

costly to treat. On the whole, commuting 

seems to lead to a general 

decrease in happiness and individual 

well-being. 

CAUSES OF CONGESTION: 

OWNERSHIP OR USAGE? 

The key cause of congestion is the lack of 

public transportation options, coupled with 

increased car ownership as a result of urbanization. 

Over 70% of Malaysia’s population now 

live in urban centres, compared to 40% in 1985. 

As income increases, the desire/ability to own 

a car also increases. Increased car ownership 

does not necessarily lead to road congestion on 

its own, it only becomes a problem if everyone 

uses their car on a daily basis. For example, you 

can use your car on weekends, but commute 

daily using public transport. The lack of comprehensive 

public transport options, the long 

connecting/waiting times, and the problem of 

getting to and from key public transportation 

lines (the first and last mile problem), means 

at times it can take people up to three times 

longer to commute with public transport than 

by car (World Bank, 2015). This has led to 80% 

of inhabitants in KL using their private car for 

their daily commute. However, where public 

transport options are available, e.g. in Hong 

Kong and Singapore, private car use for commuting 

is only 10% and 40%, respectively. 

HIGH PRIVATE COSTS 

Moreover, the lack of a comprehensive 

public transportation network further marginalizes 

the poorest in the urban population. 

Owning a car or a motorcycle further adds pressure 

to their weak finances. Given the limited 

alternate transport choices, there is almost no 

way around owning a motorized vehicle. As a 

proportion of an average household’s income, 

Malaysians spend 50% more on transport compared 

to households in cities with 

effective public transportation, e.g. 

Hong Kong or Tokyo (World Bank, 

2015). 

JAKARTA OR SINGAPORE? 

Even with new roads and expressways, 

congestion is still a growing 

problem. Should Malaysia move 

backwards and become as infamous 

for its congestion as Jakarta? Or 

should it adopt a different approach, 

as is done in modern Asian cities 

such as Singapore, Hong Kong or 

Tokyo? One of the obvious solutions 

is to build more public transportation 

networks, for example with 

the new MRT lines. The second step, 

according to the World Bank, is to 

create effective incentives to influence 

behavior, i.e. to implement 

effective taxation policies. Such policies 

would include taxes on petrol, 

congestion charges, increased toll 


47

COLUMN 

by keeping you physically active and reduces 

your environmental footprint. Building an 

infrastructure for such a mode of mobility may 

include more bicycle lanes and green areas. 

By moving in this direction, the city will also 

become more “livable”, more outdoor green 

which not only allows for greater social interaction, 

but also improves public safety through 

the “safety in numbers” principle. Research has 

shown that social interaction gives the highest 

levels of human satisfaction. At the other end 

of the scale is private car commuting as the least 

desirable. Some European cities have gone as 

is the case for Oslo, which plans to re-focus 

the city centre around people by 2019. Oslo is 

not alone; Madrid plans to achieve a car-free 

many: greater mental and physical well-being, 

reduced environmental impact, and reduced 

- 

ular, however if a viable alternative to private 

transport existed, opting to move away from 

the car could actually save each household 

money on transportation costs. In addition, 

taxes collected can be used to further fund 

public transportation projects. 

THE FUTURE: DRIVERLESS CARS 

AND BICYCLES? 

- 

sultants McKinsey, commissioned by the 

European Union, discussed the use of driverless 

cars and comprehensive carpooling to enhance 

urban mobility and reduce congestion. Such 

ideas may be decades out in the future, but 

reduce environmental damage, and improve 

road safety. 

Although driverless cars may seem farfetched, 

the increased use of bicycles is not. 

mile” problem could be worth pursuing. 

- 

ate perspiration problems in the hot and humid 

tropics. Imagine if you can simply cycle to the 

MRT station from your home, take your bike 

with you onto the MRT, and cycle a few kilometers 

from the MRT station to your work place. 

Such a model is already practiced in European 

cities such as Copenhagen. 

“LIVABLE CITIES” 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS 

Our car-centric society has many unwanted 

consequences. As income increases in Malaysia, 

the emergence of more and more cars on the 

Malaysian road has outstripped our ability to 

- 

ally causes billions of Ringgits worth of “hidden 

costs” through time-wastage, and damages to 

the environment from overuse of petrol. Other 

subtler costs include adverse health effects 

from physical inactivity and a reduced mental 

well-being. Something needs to be done, be it 

building a more comprehensive public transportation 

network or encouraging people to 

take to a more active lifestyle, for example 

cycling more. Perhaps it is time for city plansocial 

space with human interaction that they 

used to be? Where cars and their associated air 

and noise pollution are not part of the solution, 

but perceived as part of the problem? 

REFERENCES 

Cartoon, infographics and photo by Bjorn Bull Hansen 

and Chew Pui Cheng, IEN Consultants, www.ien.com.my 

CO2 Emissions Per Type of Transport: http:// 

shrinkthatfootprint.com/shrink-your-travel-footprint, 

http://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/ 

global-cyclists-say-no-carbon-opt-cdm 

EU & the Circular Economy by McKinsey: http:// 

www.mckinsey.com/client_service/sustainability/ 

latest_thinking/growth_within_-_a_circular_economy_ 

vision_for_a_competitive_europe 

Levels of Satisfaction: Kahneman, D., Krueger, A. B., 

Schkade, D., Schwarz, N., & Stone, A. A. (2004). A 

survey method for characterizing daily life experience: 

The Day Reconstruction Method (DRM). Science, 306, 

1776-1780. 

NHS: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2015/01january/ 

pages/inactivity-twice-as-deadly-as-obesity.aspx 

The Economist: published on September 5th 2015, 

p59-60. http://www.economist.com/news/international/21663218-sedentary-living-has-reached-epidemicproportions-you-have-waked-me-too-soon 

WHO: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/ 

disease-prevention/physical-activity/data-and-statistics 

World Bank Study: “Malaysian Economic Monitor, 

Transforming Urban Transport (June 2015)”: http:// 

www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/publication/ 

malaysia-economic-monitor-june-2015 

48 


CLIMATE 

QUEK YEW AUN is currently reading Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at the University of Oxford. Unfazed 

by concrete jungles that surrounded his hometown of Petaling Jaya, his passion for the environment and wildlife 

was ignited by a constant diet of Sir David Attenborough documentaries. 

Lessons 

learnt 

How cycling 

London-Paris 

can be applied to 

climate change 

Me at the 

starting 

line 

IT is undeniable that climate change 

is one of the most, if not the most 

challenging problem faced by the 

world today. Just a peek at the statistics 

would be enough to scare 

you. The National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration (NASA) reports that 

global temperatures have risen by 0.8 degrees 

Celcius since 1880; causing sea levels to rise by 

3.24 milimetres per year. If this is to continue, 

many low lying island nations like Maldives 

and Kiribati will simply be consumed by the 

sea as early as next century. Malaysia too will be 

affected by this global phenomenon. Already 

we are seeing more extreme floods and spells 

of severe droughts. 

Hence as the world leaders congregated 

in Paris for the challenging task of agreeing 

to a climate deal at the 21stUnited Nations 

Framework Convention on Climate Change 

(UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP), 

I decided take up a challenge of my own. 

Together with a classmate, we joined the 

climate kilometre movement. As part of the 

event, we were to cycle from London to Paris 

in three days covering a total of 385.1km. To 

put things into perspective, that is the exact 

distance from Kuala Lumpur to Sungai Petani. 

Sounds crazy? Well, what doesn’t kill you 

make you stronger. Along the way, I’ve learnt 

many life lessons that could be applied to our 

efforts in slowing down climate change: 

GEAR UP 

To cycle that far in that short amount of time, 

it is important to have the right tools so first 

I swapped by 5 gear bike to a 14 gear one. A 

normal bike just wouldn’t take you as far or 

as high as a road/touring bike would. Besides 

the ride, other accessories that I had to prepare 

for included a reflective vest, bright lights, and 

padded shorts. In case of emergency, I brought 

spare inner tubes and a pair of chain links. One 

thing that I’m guilty of not doing is buying bike 

insurance and was lucky that my two wheels 

were very well-behaved throughout the entire 

journey. 

In our efforts to slow down climate change, 

we need the right tools as well. At the moment, 

most of the electricity we generate comes from 

fossil fuel (coal, petrol, gas). This releases huge 

amounts of carbon dioxide of which a Form 1 

student will tell you causes global warming, 

50 


CLIMATE 

hence leading to climate change. It is indeed 

sobering to discover that Malaysia generates 

83.5% of its energy from fossil fuel sources. 

We need to the structural capacity and political 

will to transition to more sustainable forms 

like wind and solar energy. 

START EARLY IS YOU’RE SLOW 

Being the beginner long distance cyclist in 

the group, it was only natural that I would be 

placed with Group 4 (the riders that followed 

the slowest pace). On rides that would take 

6 hours for normal cyclists, it would take us 

(mostly dragged down by me) at least 2 hours 

longer. Since we were approaching the winter 

solstice at this point, limited daylight would 

also prolong our ride from constantly stopping 

to navigate. Thus on Day 2 and 3 of the ride, 

the group made it a point to leave as early as 

possible. 

Here, I could liken this to developing countries. 

Yes, we might not be as financially or technically 

as advanced at the other major economies. 

But we have to start this battle early on 

or we’ll lose out in the long term as the green 

technological zone advances. If we’re lucky, we 

might even be the first to arrive! 

JUST KEEP CYCLING; THERE IS NO 

HILL TOO HARD TO CLIME 

One thing true 

about cycling is that 

being on two wheels 

at whatever pace will 

get you there faster 

than walking at 

your fastest pace. So 

you’ll eventually get 

there as long as you 

keep pedaling. As 

far as hills are concerned, 

there were 

numerous occasions 

where I looked at the 

incline and thought 

to myself, ‘There’s 

no way I’m going up 

that. Well, here again I 

proved myself wrong. 

All I had to do is just 

drop down to my lowest available gear, try to 

put on a brave face and pushed through. 

Climate change is challenging, no doubt. 

There will be times where people, even nations 

feel like giving up. However, I urge them not to 

give up hope. It may sound naiive but we can 

definitely save the world together, as long as 

the stakeholders persevere and keep fighting 

this good fight. 

Tough times don’t last, tough people do 

*cue Miley Cyrus’ The Climb* 

…yet there is no shame in getting down 

to push your bike 

Bikes are such fickle creatures; sometimes, 

they don’t do what they are told. For example, 

climb at 45 degree hill. This is me being the bad 

workman that blames his tools. On a serious 

note, when things got a little unbearable for 

my thighs I got down and pushed the bike 

uphill, praying that the next turn would take 

me downhill. Luckily my pride was salvaged 

by fellow bike pushers; though they probably 

had more valid excuses. Hanna had a 10 gear 

bike while Antonia had a 12. I’vedigressed; 

my point is that pushing your bike will get you 

there nonetheless. 

Climate change will be more challenging 

for some countries as compared to others. The 

argument that developed countries will find it 

easier to manage their targets is a sound one. 

After all, these countries have already reached 

a certain level of development. For the developing 

countries, we need to reach our climate 

goals even if it means going at it at a slower 

pace. 

SAVOUR THE WINS 

Amazing scenery 

Throughout the entire route, cycling wins 

would definitely be exhilarating downhill rides. 

They made the uphill climbs so worth it. Other 

than offering rest for tired legs, most of the 

downhill had such mesmerizing views of both 

the English or French countryside. 

The agreement reached at COP 21 had 

mixed views from climate activists. Ignoring 


51

CLIMATE 

the detractors, I would like to think of the 

agreement as a representation of world solidarity 

on climate change and should be celebrated 

as a step in the right direction. Yes, 

it might not be fair for everyone but it does 

give us something to work on in the coming 

years. What is clear is that much more work 

is needed to fulfill the commitments. 

…but, there’s always another hill to 

climb 

No matter how many hillsconquered 

there was always another that stood 

between me and Paris. That fact didn’t 

change until the Eiffel tower was in sight. 

I’ll never forget the first time we 

glimpsed it 

The Paris Agreement is no doubt a 

momentous occasion. The challenge now 

is to make sure every party fulfills their 

promise and that such future climate talks 

Serves as a bike stand too! 

would always put the collective needs. 

HAVING A BUDDY OR BETTER YET A 

GROUP, HELPS 

Humans are social creatures. I’m not 

ashamed to admit that I would not have 

been able to do this cycle without my buddy, 

Marcel or the awesome groupmates. Dave 

(our Brompton riding leader), Hanna (the 

vegan chick on a bike from the 80s), with 

the 3 other couples- Jack (the happy go 

lucky dude with a ponytail) and Jessie (the 

ever bubbly optimist), David (our handyman 

extraordinaire) and Rebecca (the caring 

one with a small bladder), Aidan (the caring 

boyfriend) and Antonia (girl with the Harry 

Potter glasses). We supported 

each other by giving words of encouragement 

and waiting if either one of us were lagging 

behind (this was mostly me). 

One would think that with 193 countries 

in the UNFCCC COP, a consensus would 

be almost impossible to reach. Some would 

want to dictate future movements while 

others vote in groups. However, I feel that 

this immense number should be seen as an 

advantage. As a country, there are 192 others 

in the same boat. The knowledge that all of us 

are in this together has to spur parties to work 

harder and support each other to combat 

climate change. After all, there is only one 

Planet Earth. 

WHEN THE TIMES GET TOUGH, 

IMPROVISE! 

This one is not from me, but from the 

resourcefulness of David. We met David and 

Rebecca on the first day. Both of them were 

cycling to Paris despite not being part of Climate 

Kilometre. Since they didn’t know the existence 

of a transport van, David was carrying a cabin 

sized trolley bag on his bike. When he eventually 

found it was too heavy to cycle up the hills with a 

bag in tow, he improvised by cable tying the bag 

to the back of his bike at a 45 degree angle! This 

simulated a person dragging a bag and reduced 

the weight he had to carry tremendously! Along 

the way, he improvised with an inner tube dampener 

to reduce the stiffness. 

To combat climate change, human innovation 

can be our single most potent weapon. By the 

Malthusian principle, the human race couldn’t 

have increase exponentially while food production 

only increased linearly. And yet here we 

are. I believe the intensive farming driven by 

the advances in machinery and development of 

Ostwald process to produce nitrogenous fertilizer 

saved the world from mass starvation. Now, 

we are at this critical juncture where a paradigm 

shifting innovation is once again needed. Who 

knows? We might already have an answer in the 

works. 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, IT IS ALL IN 

THE MIND 

To be honest, there was not one moment 

throughout the ride that I thought about giving 

up and taking a train to Paris. After all, what would 

I have gained if I completed the ride? I wouldn’t 

have made any difference in the decisions made 

in COP. Nevertheless, I decided to complete what 

I started, to make a pointthat anything is possible 

as long as you put your mind to it. 

The same could be said about climate change. 

A good friend once told me that ‘Nothing worth 

doing/having comes easy’. For a better world, we 

need better policies, better cooperation among 

countries and political leaders willing to do what 

is necessary. It might be difficult at first, but the 

mind has a way of turning impossible feats into 

reality. 

On a concluding note, I urge all of you to take 

into consideration your individual actions to 

combat climate change. Just simple gestures, if 

practised by the masses will make a difference. 

Eat up all your food, bike to work, use public 

transport, recycle your waste, install solar panels. 

Remember, climate change will affect everyone 

including our children and their children’s 

children. 

52 


Who is DHES? 

DRB-Hicom Environmental Services Sdn 

Bhd (938781-W) or “DHES” is a fully owned 

subsidiary of Alam Flora Sdn Bhd and is 

under the DRB-HICOM BERHAD Group. 

We offer diverse quality services related 

to the environment including consultancy, 

systems analyses and technical inspection. 

We have more than 100* staff in the 

management and technical areas and 

over 400* support staff stationed all over 

Malaysia. Established in the 1990s**, and 

we have more than 18 years experience in 

this industry and we assure our customers 

quality service. 

Why us? 

Quality Service 

Reliability 

 

Group Synergy 

Strategy Driven 

Value For Money 

* Data until September 2014 ** Alam Flora Sdn Bhd 

LEADING 

AGGRESIVE 

3R & 

Industrial Scrap 

Our main Recycling Centre is located in Precint 9, Putrajaya. 

By our “Buy Back Programme”, you can earn some income 

while helping the domestic economy and conserving the 

environment. 

Besides 3R activities, DHES is also involved in providing a 

comprehensive service for the large scale industry. On an 

average we manage 110 tonnes of scrap per day, equivalent 

to 40,000 tonnes yearly. Our industrial scrap waste consists 

of various types of iron and metal, wood, aluminium and 

other hard materials. Hence DHES has become the largest 

Bumiputera company in Malaysia in managing industrial scrap. 

Waste Management Facility 

& Services 

DHES has started its business in waste management in 

Malaysia since 1990s. Our vast experience in this industry has 

widen our range of services into; 

• Management of Transfer Station 

 

• Industrial, Commercial & Institutional (ICI) Waste 

• Renovation & Construction Waste (RCW) 

Integrated Facilities 

Management (IFM) 

Our focus is to ensure quality that our customers demand and 

 

• Mechanical and Electrical Systems 

• Civil and Structural Systems 

• Environment Management 

• Parking Management 

• Security Management 

• Computerised Maintenance Management System 

• Utilities Management 

• Landscaping and Grounds Services 

• Cleaning and Housekeeping Services 

• Fire Fighthing Systems 

• Vertical Transportation 

• Pest Control

COLUMN 

By KEVIN HOR 

(Project Manager and Component 3 Consultant) 

kevin.hor@jkr.gov.my 

Malaysia v Romania 

and Belarus 

 

 

 

NO matter what the situation 

of our economy is, 

Malaysia is still a developing 

country, at least in the 

region, with the GDP of 

roughly USD700 billion 

— according to The World Book Data. 

Based on population and geographical size, 

it’s fair enough when we say Singapore has 

moved triple the speed we are currently accelerated, 

in any field including energy efficiency 

in buildings. Its cliché to compare Malaysia 

and Singapore, we are close competitors in 

the ASEAN region. 

But, where do we stand among the EU 

countries when it comes to energy efficiency 

in buildings? Let’s not be intimidated 

by Germany but focus on countries that are 

nearly similar to Malaysia in geographical size 

and population such as Romania and Belarus. 

Looking at initiatives for energy efficiency 

in buildings, Malaysia is 10 years behind compared 

to Belarus that kick-started its EE initiative 

in the 90s with their Social Infrastructure 

Retrofitting Project (SIRP). The country realized 

the energy wasted in heating and lighting 

poorly designed and maintained facilities and 

requested support from the World Bank to retrofit 

their public buildings and it was approved 

in 2001. 

This project that ended in 2010, has retrofitted 

745 social sector buildings to improve its 

efficiency and 300 educational facilities have 

received lighting improvements, resulting 15% 

of reduction in electricity consumption and 

40,000 tons/year of CO2 reduction. The data 

collected from this project itself could be a 

good reference to Belarus to develop a successful 

energy efficiency framework in the future. 

Belarus took a smart step by approaching 

the World Bank as this project paved the way 

for the next World Bank operations in Belarus, 

including Post Chernobyl Recovery Project 

and Energy Efficiency Project, and contributed 

to the dialogue on broader energy sector 

reforms. 

Support from the World Bank influence 

the confidence in local bank for energy efficiency 

investments. Most banks in Belarus 

support energy efficiency projects compared 

to Malaysia, where loans provided for energy 

efficiency are still not their main priority, 

even it is proven that it is one of the lowest 

risk investments. 

Belarus government gives full support to 

energy efficiency programs, proven by their 

investments in energy efficiency that reached 

about US$ 3.86 billion over the past 15 years 

which has made a significant progress in 

improving energy efficiency in their country. 

What about Romania? Based on GDP, even 

with the current economy situation, Malaysia’s 

economy is performing nearly 700 per cent 

A photo-electric station in Belarus 

higher than Romania, with the rapid growth 

in the construction industrythat could easily 

convince investor in energy efficiency projects. 

This could be a strong reason why we should 

have a higher goal in energy efficiency and 

sustainability. 

However, Romania is more daring and ambitious 

to reduce 80 per cent of CO2 emissions 

from the building sector alone by the year 

2050.Some might think it’s an unrealistic goal 

especially when your country has a legacy of 

many buildings from the communist era that 

are no longer fit for purpose. But looking at the 

brighter side, higher goal means higher effort 

from the government that has prepared for a 

very organized framework to achieve it. 

The government introduced Renovating 

Romania that is divided into three phases. For 

the first phase, the priority is to establish the 

conditions whereby deep renovations, saving 

at least 60%, become the norm within five 

54 


COLUMN 

National Library of Belarus 

SkyTower, the tallest building in Romania 

years followed by technological development 

that will then provide the means of achieving 

80-100 per cent energy savings in a highly cost 

effective manner as standard in renovations 

within around10 years. 

Thereafter in Phase 3, with a proper policy 

implemented, achieving positive energy building 

renovation will be realistic, practical and 

cost effective within 20 years, just in time to 

reach their goal in 2050. Not just having a 

well-planned strategy, Romania has a clearer 

direction that has been set under EU roadmap 

in moving into a competitive low carbon 

economy in 2050 which identifies the need 

of reducing carbon emissions in residential 

and services sectors, collectively, the building 

sector by 88%-91% by 2050 compared to 1990 

levels. This, again, drives the support from the 

government in energy efficiency projects. 

Romania and Belarus are better in improving 

their energy efficiency in buildings as both 

Worldwide leading mobile phone maker Nokia has 

announced today that its Jucu Factory in Romania has 

been chosen as one of the leading green buildings in the 

 

countries are under European Commission 

that provides multiple choices of grants for 

energy efficiency projects. EU EBRD Energy 

Efficiency Finance Facility (EERD EEFF), for 

instance, funds reconstruction and development 

to help private sector energy efficiency 

investments. 

Private sector industrial companies may 

borrow up to 2.5 million euros from a participating 

bank for energy efficiency investments, 

with free technical consultancy and receive a 

15% grant that is up to 375,000euro direct from 

EBRD EEFFwhen the investment is completed 

and operational. Funding is also available for 

a range of different energy saving investments, 

including building renovation. 

Malaysia is still far behind when it comes 

to funding, which discouraged the interest in 

energy efficiency project especially among the 

public. 

Looking at the surface, Malaysia’s residential 

buildings are more urbanized compared to 

Romania and Belarus that are dominated by 

old residential buildings with poor thermal 

performance, which deserve attention from 

United Nations Development Programme 

and Global Environment Fund in improving 

energy efficiency in residential buildings for 

both countries. It is much easier to retrofit our 

residential buildings to be energy efficient. 

However, that is not the scenario in Malaysia. 

We do have effort like low-carbon-city campaign 

done by Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya 

(MBPJ) that is not widely acknowledged by 

the residents. Lack of awareness among public 

resulted in hesitation in investing for energy 

efficiency features for their homes. 

Based on these comparisons, economy alone 

is not the measure of the success of energy efficiency 

projects in any country. Government 

support could make a huge difference. 

Collaboration with international consultants 

to develop an appropriate policy landscape that 

is parallel to the local market is essential component 

for a successful delivery in any energy 

efficiency project. 

This will be followed by confidence from the 

bankers which will encourage investments in 

energy efficiency. Assistance from international 

consultants could give a clearer direction 

for our country to reach our sustainability 

goals. 

Collaboration between multiple government 

agencies will lead to a better execution 

for the strategy in the energy efficiency framework. 

All these may contribute to the reduction 

of our total of energy consumption from the 

building sector that can place us on the same 

par with the other EU countries. 


55

COLUMN 

CAPTAIN PLANET 

RAVINDRAN RAMAN KUTTY, 

also known as Captain Planet, 

who had radio programs in Traxx 

FM, Minnal FM, Radio Ibukota, AI 

FM and regular TV shows. He was 

also responsible in developing the 

 

school students in English, 

 

Tamil. He also developed a pre- 

 

ran environment columns in all the 

leading newspapers in English, 

 

Tamil. He also worked with the 

 

 

 

writing contest on environment 

 

Tamil school students. He also 

has started waste education 

programs in the Middle East, 

 

 

environmental journalist award 

 

Learn, unlearn 

and relearn 

Malaysians must change habits to bring 

about better future for our children 

THE recent Selangor government 

direction on the possibility 

of implementing a 

state-wide ban on the usage 

of plastics bags, Styrofoam 

and other biodegradable 

materials is a laudable move in creating a safe, 

sound and secure society in facing the surmounting 

problems caused by the usage of 

such products. 

The best way to educate Malaysians on the 

perils of plastics is to substitute plastics with 

environment-friendly materials like paper and 

water soluble materials which degrade much 

faster at our landfills. 

I must say Malaysians are taking it very easy 

when it comes to our environment. Ignoring its 

value, we throw our recyclables such as plastics, 

metals, papers alongside with all the materials 

which soil valuable recyclable wastes. 

We cannot deny that plastics are light and 

durable; their practical and hygienic standpoint 

unarguable, but they are good as well 

as dangerous. Society must take the effort 

to ensure that all the plastics bags used must 

end up in recycling centres rather than landfills. 

Residents of Kuala Lumpur alone discard 

127,000 kg of plastics, equivalent to RM50 

million a year. Plastics left in the landfill take 

more than 10,000 years to degrade. Out of the 

2,700 tonnes of waste collected from the city, 

13% comprises plastics. If these plastics are left 

to rest in the landfills, we will not see any solution 

to our environmental woes. 

I admire the courage of the Selangor government. 

However, I urge them to ensure that 

they think thoroughly before implementing 

the policy. Decreasing the use of plastic bags 

and substituting them with paper bags is a good 

step, but the effects on the environment must 

not be overlooked. The increase in paper bag 

usage will also result in an increase in the harvesting 

of trees. It must be sternly advised that 

the paper bags used are mainly derived from 

recyclable material. Hence, this would create 

more value and meaning to the replacement 

as well as further boost the preservation of our 

greenery. It is not the fault of the material, but 

that of society who have chosen to ignore the 

environment. 

The lack of research, proper environmental 

awareness and poor enforcement are the main 

causes of the increasing wastage going to the 

landfills. It is heartening to note that UKM’s 

Fuel Cell Institute is seriously looking into converting 

plastics into petroleum. This technology, 

popular in Japan though founded in the 

56 


COLUMN 

Illinois Sustainable Technology Centre, can 

covert one kilogram of plastics into one litre 

of petrol, but the production costs is still high. 

Approximately one trillion plastic bags used 

worldwide in 2014 is equivalent to 120 million 

barrels of oil. We Malaysians use over 8 billion 

plastics bags annually or one million bags per 

minute, thus consuming up to one million 

barrels of oil that can be produced. 

The ill-effects of plastics are not only limited 

to landfills. It is evident even in the mini plastic 

bags that are used to fill our hot “teh-tarik” and 

coffee. Common chemicals in plastic include 

Bisphenol A (BPA),a chemical used in large 

quantities in the production of polycarbonate 

plastics and epoxy resins phthalates, ink, and 

glue that will leach from the plastic into our 

favourite drinks. Many Malaysians are ignorant 

of this; it is a pity that no agency has come up in 

the open to stop these dangerous plastic bags in 

circulation especially at the “warongs”, mamak 

stalls and coffee shops. Can the Coffee Shop 

association or the Ministry of Health immediately 

stop these plastics bags from being used 

to pack hot and cold drinks. 

The Expandable Polystyrene Foam (EPS) is 

neither a good alternative for the packaging of 

hot drinks. They too bring out their toxic properties 

when hot food and drinks are stored in 

them. Several thousands of animals especially 

fishes, turtles, cattle and birds are also suffering 

from these plastic and EPS hazards. 

While we could argue continuously on the 

good or bad of plastics, the point remains that 

it is not the plastics but the attitude of the 

users. Plastics too have their role to play. We 

can avoid using them for hot food and drink 

preparation and servings. We need to look at 

the ATTITUDE of mankind. We use the plastics 

but throw them back to the co-mingled 

waste bin. We must stop throwing plastics anywhere 

we like. Instead, gather and send them 

for recycling. This attitudinal change will bring 

about a significant change to the environment. 

Every restaurant operator who renews his 

annual licence must undergo a simple training 

program to ensure that he/she understands 

the ill-effects of plastics so that they 

will then look into alternatives. All wedding 

and party organisers must also be trained 

to think beyond plastic cups and plates; use 

alternatives such as glass containers, aluminium 

foil, stainless steel containers and cloth 

and paper bags. We must emulate McDonalds, 

Dunkin Donuts, and Subway in their best practices 

with regards to the environment. It is my 

dream to hear from the Nasi Kandar Kayu and 

Pelita and all our Kopitiam outlets coming out 

strongly and making announcements saying 

that they will go green by moving away from 

plastic cups and plates. 

Malaysians must quickly learn and change 

for the better, as written byThe New York 

Times columnist Tom Friedman, ‘Everyone 

has to bring something extra; being average 

is no longer enough. Everyone is looking for 

employees who critical thinking and problem 

solving can do … just to get an interview. What 

they are really looking for are people who can 

invent, re-invent and re-engineer their jobs 

while doing them.’ 

People who find opportunities in a changing 

environment are those who are actively looking 

for them. The choice is simple: act or be acted 

upon. Since change is the only constant you 

can truly rely upon, learning to navigate and 

adapt to it is not just important to your survival, 

it is essential for you to thrive in the 

bigger game of life. 

As futurist and philosopher Alvin Toffler 

once wrote: “The illiterate of the 21st century 

will not be those who cannot read and write, 

but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and 

relearn.” 

Alvin Toffle is right - in order to save the 

future, we must quickly learn, unlearn and 

relearn, in making sure that we adopt new ways 

in waste management and bring about a better 

and greater environment for our children. 


57

COLUMN 

 

of sustainable urban design and Green buildings towards the aspect of social, environment and economy for a 

better world. 

Capitalism 

v Climate 

change 

How free market fundamentalism helped overheat the planet and how we 

should react against the invisible hand 

There were indeed, important 

and interesting signs 

ahead of this upcoming 

UNFCCC COP 21 in Paris. 

With the recent key events 

that Obama has rejected 

Keystone XL pipeline project after 6 years of 

review and Vatican leaders have released Pope 

Francis’s 192 pages encyclical on the environment 

this year, it is ambivalent to ride on the 

optimism that COP 21 will deliver what COP 

15 in Copenhagen has failed, a legal binding 

agreement for countries to stay below the 2 

degree Celsius increase in global temperature. 

However, the treaty is not a bargain for the 

African and other vulnerable countries, as they 

were pushing for 1.5 degree Celsius instead 

because 2 degrees Celsius spells genocide 

for their countries. I am uncertain, as hope is 

embarking scarcity this time. The world’s governments 

have been negotiating about their’ 

carbon’ for my entire life, literally, from the mid- 

1990s, and the only thing rising faster than our 

emissions is the amount of pledges to lower 

them. So why the paradox occurrence where 

our global emission is just getting off the charts? 

Naomi Klein latest anti-globalization trilogy 

book “This Changes Everything” might refresh 

your memory on the bigger picture of climate 

change isn’t about carbon, but capitalism. 

WE KNEW (KNOW) WHAT IS 

COMING 

Let us not fool ourselves that climate destabilization 

is a hoax, as surveys of the peer-reviewed 

scientific literature consistently show 

a 97-98% that humans are causing global 

Naomi Klein’s latest trilogy book on anti-capitalism 

“This Changes Everything” 

warming. In fact, the climate conversation 

began back in 1988 when Dr James Hansen, 

climatologist and director of NASA’s Institute 

for Space Studies, testified that climate change 

is an anthropogenic effect. 

While majority Malaysians are clouded with 

the current political drama and financial hardships, 

the conversation on climate change has 

gone into adaptation by building more dams 

and flood mitigation infrastructures, rather in 

depth public conversations on cutting down 

absolute carbon emissions (which our government 

opted for an absurd 40% carbon reduction 

as per GDP intensity in COP15). The 

ecology and economic damages of climate 

change is prevalent, as seen from the new norm, 

the annual dry spell and flood on the east and 

west coast respectively. 

The weatherman recorded an increase of 

0.7 degrees in average peninsula temperature 

since the 1969, while the mean Malaysian seas 

level has been rising at a rate of 1.42-4.08mm/ 

year. Record breaking typhoons, floods and 

droughts are getting off the charts at various 

corners of the world, and scientists have also 

confirmed that we have entered the sixth 

mass extinction where animals are dying out 

100 times the normal rate. Clearly, we are no 

longer at the terms discussing about preventing 

climate change, but instead, avoiding catastrophic 

damages by transiting into a resilience 

economy. 

BUT WHAT IS STOPPING US? 

Many of us have already known this inconvenient 

truth well, but why aren’t many recognizing 

and taking the necessary action? Most 

Malaysians will conveniently browse through 

the disastrous scenes of typhoon Haiyan or 

Katrina in grief and anger but back to business 

as usual the next day. Many want the change but 

does not want to be the change. Why? Even if, 

only few that talk about going energy efficient, 

switching off the light bulbs, permaculture gardening, 

or green buildings. 

But what we need here is a radical transformation 

that will mobilize the mass movement. 

In which, Klein explicitly pointed out, those 

huge efforts we yearn to see fundamentally conflict 

with deregulated capitalism, the reigning 

ideology for the entire period we have been 

struggling to find a way out of this crisis. 

58 


COLUMN 

The top 90 companies 

that are responsible for 

two thirds of our global 

carbon emissions 

(Source: The Guardian) 

We are trapped because the actions that 

would be the best chance of averting catastrophe 

and would benefit the vast majority – are 

extremely threatening to an elite minority 

that has a stranglehold over our economy (oil 

and gas particularly), political process (that is 

lobbied by rich corporations), and our media 

outlets. Interestingly from a socialism point of 

view, a research from Yales found that people 

with strong ‘communitarian’ (incline towards 

collective action and social justice) worldviews 

accept the scientific consensus on climate 

change. 

Conversely, those with strong ‘hierarchical’ 

and ‘individualistic’ (strong support for industry) 

worldviews reject the scientific consensus. 

It is always easier to deny reality than to 

allow our worldview to be shattered. But what 

about ‘green technology’ attempts in saving 

the world? Ironically, finding new ways to privatize 

the commons and profit from disaster is 

also what our current system is built to do. The 

benefits goes to the ‘climate-ready’ crops producer 

such as Monsanto, and big contractors, 

insurance companies benefiting through disaster 

mitigation projects. What about big companies 

and Individuals such as Shell and Richard 


Branson declaring that environmental conservation 

is in their agenda? It is nothing more than 

a public relations stunt, reflected in their tiny 

investment on environmental obligations. 

THE CLIMATE CHANGE AND 

CAPITALISM PARALLELISM 

The scenario is distinctively identical across 

the globe. The privatization of the public sphere, 

deregulation of the corporate sector, and lower 

corporate taxation, paid for with cuts to public 

spending. The occupy wall street movement 

echoes the real world costs of these policies, the 

instability of financial market, the ever widening 

rich poor gap, as well as the failing state of 

public infrastructure and services. Klein reinforced 

her past 15 years of experience by linking 

how capitalism has systematically sabotaged 

our collective response to climate change, a 

happening threat that came knocking just as 

this ideology was reaching its zenith. 

If one has to look back at the past quarter 

century of international negotiations, two 

defining process stand out. There will be the 

climate process, which struggles and failing 

utterly to achieve its goals, and there will be 

the corporate globalization process, hammering 

victorious milestones, from the first trade 

deal between Canada and the United States 

(which forms NAFTA) to the creation of World 

Trade Organization to the transformation of 

large parts of Asia into sprawling free trade 

zones, with the latest Trans-Pacific Partnership 

Agreement. Both, interestingly began in the 

1990s. In mid of 2014, the IPCC has also finally 

acknowledged the reality of growing share of 

total anthropogenic CO2 emissions is released 

in the manufacture of products that are traded 

across international borders. 

A MORAL ISSUE – SOLVING THIS 

SOLVING MORE 

Climate destabilization is a moral issue transcended 

through our current economic system. 

Between 1990 and 1998, more than 94 percent 

of the world’s biggest natural disasters occurred 

in developing world, places with weak and poor 

infrastructure, where people are not responsible 

for the majority of the carbon emissions. 

Instead, 80 percent of the world’s emissions 

lies with just 20 percent of the inhabitants of 

the world’s wealthiest nations. Research also 

suggests that the climate crisis is fuelled by 90 

companies (mostly oil and gas), which between 

them produced nearly two thirds of the greenhouse 

gas emissions since the dawning of industrial 

age. 

The culprits extend to huge industries such 

as aviation, automobile and even military, 

which are decided by consumers like us. We 

know that various social issues are caused and 

amplified by wealth inequality and injustice (at 

all scales, from individuals to countries) which 

directly contradicts humanity values and religious 

teachings. Fixing this moral issue we 

know, is not merely a chance to respond to the 

climate crisis but it restores hope and progress 

of the human race as a whole. As what James 

Martin has rightly pointed out in his book 

“The Meaning of the 21st Century”, we are at 

the junction of our civilization in determining 

our future. 

THE GREAT WAKE-UP CALL 

So how do we do it? Definitely not the next 

generation of ‘clean’ nuclear power plants that 

take another decade of research, not some giant 

carbon dioxide sucking machine, not slowly 

awaiting our “green companies” or “green 

Messiahs”. We simply do not have the time. But 

instead, people power. 

59

COLUMN 

Infographic shows comparison of carbon emissions per unit geographic area, where evidently south Africa being the smallest, yet most vulnerable to natural disasters. 

Cliché it may sound, but Klein underlines 

that we have the technological solutions for the 

problems we face, what we need urgently is to 

unite across the globe for a mass movement. 

It is the unification among society groups and 

widely exploited indigenous people to resist 

against the construction of pipelines and the 

slaughtering act of our green lungs, the large 

act of civil disobedience that puts a strong 

message across, the divestment movement that 

redirects money away from polluters to entities 

that have a clear vision for our planet healing 

process. Many have cited on Mark Jacobson’s 

team at Stanford that shows a global transition 

to 100 percent renewable energy is both technically 

and economically feasible by as early as 

2030, which essentially cancels the argument of 

several countries having a ‘transition’ fuel which 

is oil, gas or nuclear. 

Is it really possible? Various experiences 

across the globe and era have shown us the 

miraculous transition we are capable of in 

times of urgency. The Germans have shown us 

how political will accelerated the transition to 

renewables in a short amount of time. Last year 

about 27 per cent of its electricity came from 

renewables, where after the 2011 meltdown at 

Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant, which 

led Chancellor Angela Merkel to declare that 

Germany would shut all 17 of its own reactors 

by 2022. 

60 

The fear of meltdown is a much more powerful 

and immediate motive than the fear of 

slowly rising temperatures and seas. History 

has shown that we are willing to collectively 

sacrifice in the face of threats many times, most 

famously in the embrace of rationing, self-sufficient 

farming during World Wars I and II. To 

support fuel conservation during World War 

II, pleasure driving was virtually eliminated in 

the U.K between 1938 and 1944, use of public 

transit went up by 87 percent in the U.S and 

by 95 percent in Canada. Interestingly, all of 

these activities together dramatically reduce 

carbon emissions. Yes, the threat of war seemed 

immediate and substantial during then but why 

haven’t we seen climate change or capitalism 

the same way too? 

MAJORITY BOTTOM HAS TO ACT 

We need to shift from privatization to community 

ownership and control. We need large 

public sector investments for emissions reduction: 

shift to renewables, smart grids, free of 

charge public transport infrastructure, urban 

redesigns that obsolete car usages, preparation 

for storms and other emergencies. And 

of course, revenues should come from polluters, 

such as high royalties, or a steep carbon tax 

with redistribution to those who cannot afford 

higher prices. 

Paradox to this, it is immoral for some countries 

to even subsidize dirty fossil fuels using 

public funds. We need game-changing policies 

that don’t merely aim to change laws but change 

patterns of thought. We need to continue to 

preach across how we owe to one another based 

on our shared humanity on this common earth, 

and what it is that we collectively value more 

than economic growth and corporate profits. 

Imagine a powerful social movement with a 

coalition of trade unions, immigrants, students, 

environmentalists, and everyone else whose 

dreams were getting crushed by the crashing 

economic model. 

The real solutions to this climate crisis are 

also our best hope of building a much more 

stable and equitable economic system, one that 

strengthen and transforms the public sphere, 

generates plentiful, dignified work, and radically 

flushes off corporate greed. What we are 

really talking about, if we are honest with ourselves, 

is transforming everything about the 

way we live on this planet. And, it just requires 

breaking every rule in the ‘free market’ playbook, 

reining in corporate power, rebuilding 

local economies, and reclaiming our democracies. 

Solving this solving more than what 

climate change affects us alone but redefining 

our obsolete capitalism model that has 

robbed humanity’s dignity apart. This changes 

everything. 


IN THIS 

ISSUE 

Dire need 

for industry to 

make sound 

decisions 

Malaysia 

charging up 

the electric 

mobility 

revolution 

Long arm of 

WWF-Malaysia 

Arquebuse 

Water, the 

heavenly 

water of life 

Hydro will power 

Sarawak into 

the future 

This clean and renewable 

source of energy offers 

Sarawakians tremendous 

 

Giving waste 

water a second 

chance 

Inside GE’s Water 

Technology Centre with 

Dr Adil Dhalla 

Nadzri: We’ll ‘lead 

by example’ 

Will ensure all government 

 

and complies with existing 

regulations in order to be able 

to impose for the private 

sector to do the same 

in this issue 

Tea Team produces results 

Weaving hope for future 

Pomeroy unveils Newpark 

China’s land treatment 

success 

Waste2wealth 

Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local 

Government Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan says they 

are consistently thrusting forward the 3Rs programmes 

in order to achieve 22 per cent recycling rate by 2020 

NRE’s 11 goals 

towards a better 

environment 

Implementation of CAAP critical in 

reducing greenhouse emissions 

and combating global warming 

PP 18355/12/2013 (033744) Vol 2 Issue 7 RM12.00 JUNE-JULY, 2015 

Technology 

Provider 

As a premier solution provider, President 

and CE Dato’ Dr Zainal Abidin Mohd Yusof 

is the driver behind SIRIM’s quality and 

technology innovations that help 

companies to compete better 

Nam Cheong 

launches new 

‘green’ AHTS vessel 

Not just cost-effective 

but also fuel efficient and 

environmentally-friendly

MARITIME 

Going Green in the 

blue sea 

In the wake of the landmark COP 21 agreement, 

Nazery Khalid 

climate change 

NAZERY KHALID is Honorary 

Secretary of Association of 

Marine Industries of Malaysia 

(AMIM). He can be contacted at 

nazerykhalid@gmail.com 

FEELING THE HEAT OF 

CLIMATE CHANGE 

The 21st Conference of Parties 

(COP 21) held in Paris from 

30 November to 11 December 

2015 - also known as the 2015 

Paris Climate Conference – organized by the 

United Nations Conference on Climate Change 

(UNFCC) concluded on a high note. Some 

observers were quick to use words like ‘unprecedented’ 

and ‘historic’ in hailing the conclusion 

of the negotiations which saw nations agreeing 

to achieve the goal of preventing the temperature 

of planet earth from rising by less than two 

degree Celcius. This target is at the core of the 

Paris Agreement agreed upon by 196 countries 

at COP21in an attempt to reverse the ill effects of 

global warming and climate change. 

Sceptics may scoff at the commitment made 

at COP 21 by dismissing it as being yet another 

talk shop as industries and the masses continue to 

release harmful gasses and spew carbon into the 

atmosphere unabated. Cynics were quick to point 

out that while COP 21 was in progress, Beijing 

and New Delhi, the capitols of the world’s top two 

most populous nation which account for a fifth of 

the world population - were choked in smog and 

the United States has yet to ratify Kyoto Protocol. 

These three countries were among the world’s top 

four largest emitters of CO2 in 2013, according to 

a ranking by European Commission. 

However, the message from COP 21 was loud 

and clear: the status quo of global warming cannot 

be maintained if the world is serious about reversing 

the impacts of climate change and global 

warming. Evidences are aplenty that Mother 

Nature is under severe distress from rising temperature 

caused by CO2 emissions arising from 

human activities. If the spate of natural disasters 

and rising ocean levels generated by climate 

change are not enough to convince the sceptics, 

2015 was earmarked as the hottest year on record, 

exceeding the temperature in 2014. Governments, 

industries and individuals can no longer sit still 

and not make changes to their old ways that have 

62 


MARITIME 

contributed to climate change and global warming 

if the target of COP 21 is to be attained. 

SHIPPING AND EMISSIONS 

Perhaps unbeknownst to many, the shipping 

industry which facilitates the transportation of 

an estimated 90% of global trade has quietly but 

progressively done its bit to reduce its carbon 

footprint and green house gas (GHG) emissions. 

Through various efforts initiated by the 

International Maritime Organization (IMO), the 

special United Nations body responsible for safe, 

secure and clean shipping activities – the shipping 

industry has undertaken a series of measures to cut 

back carbon pollution from shipping activities. 

Ships are ubiquitous in the world’s oceans and 

seas, playing a critical role as global trade facilitator 

and as an enabler of a host of marine economic 

activities such as offshore oil and gas exploration 

and production, fishery and tourism. They use 

bunker fuel, considered as a ‘dirty fuel’, which is 

a tar-like sludge left over from petroleum refining 

that produces an especially noxious exhaust. 

International shipping emitted 624,000 kilo tons 

or 2.7 percent to the world CO2 emissions globally 

from transportation activities in 2013. This 

represents only a fraction of the total global CO2 

discharge from vehicles and pales in comparison 

to the emissions from land transportation which 

was 21 percent of the global total. 

However, studies have suggested that if no concrete 

actions are taken to reduce emissions from 

ships, the level of emissions from ships could 

increase nearly threefold by 2050 as seaborne 

transport increases and more ships enter into the 

fray. This is despite the fact that new generation 

of cargo carrying vessels and workboats / offshore 

support vessels (OSV) are equipped with environment 

friendly features such as aerodynamically 

design hulls and fitted with clean and fuel 

efficient engines. 

The prospect of shipping industry tripling its 

emissions level in the spotlight brightly on the 

shipping industryto take urgent measures to 

avoid this most undesirable situation. This is 

not only due to its high profile as a key enabler 

of global trade and offshore energy production 

but also owing to the fact that there is so much 

room for improvement for shipowners to reduce 

their carbon footprint. Given the borderless and 

mobile nature of the shipping industry, it is understandably 

difficult to assign emissions from international 

shipping to specific countries of national 

economies. In this regard, the shipping community 

has proposed that any CO2-reducing initiatives 

launched and measures adopted should be 

led by IMO, which also acts as a regulatory body,to 

ensure rules related to marine environment protection 

for shipping can be enforced worldwide. 

IMO has been given the mandate by the international 

community to spearhead initiatives to 

reduce emissions from shipping and promote 

greater custodianship of the environment among 

shipowners. This is quite unprecedented in 

the sense that this international organization 

specifically established to overseeshipping activities 

is also in charge of steering the shipping industry 

toward a low-carbon future. In this regard, 

IMO is the most suitable body to lead the shipping 

industry towards a low carbon future. It has 

to be lauded for its tireless work in developing a 

comprehensive regulatory regime aimed at protecting 

the marine environment. 

IMO, through its Marine Environment 

Protection Committee (MEPC), has gone into 

overdrive mode to introduce a slew of measures to 

scale back GHG emissions and minimize carbon 

footprint from ships. These encompass increasing 

energy efficiency of ships which has led to more 

fuel efficient operations of ships and the development 

of new generation of ships with impressive 

fuel efficient features despite their ever growing 

size and capacity. Through initiatives such as Ship 

Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) 

andEnergy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), IMO 

has led shipowners down the path of improving 

the fuel efficiency of their vessels. SEEMP is a 

regulation to require all shipping companies to 

develop and maintain a plan to maximize the efficiency 

of ship operations.EEDI recommends 

energy efficiency measures, both in the design 

and the operation of vessels, requiring most new 

ships to be 10% more efficient beginning 2015, 

20% more efficient by 2020 and 30% more efficient 

from 2025. If implemented based on this 

time schedule, the International Council on Clean 

Transportation (ICCT) projects that the shipping 

industry will be able to reduce up to 263 million 

tonnes of CO2 annually by 2030. 

DATA-BASED DECISION MAKING TO 

REDUCE EMISSIONS 

To convince shipowners, operators and charterers 

of the benefits of adopting fuel-efficiency 

measures to reduce GHG emissions, they need to 

be convinced of the environmental and economic 

benefits of those measures. One sure-fire way of 

doing so is to provide them with accurate, reliable 

data related to emissions from shipping. 

There are earnest efforts undertaken by shipping 

stakeholders to collect and analyse such data 

and increase the data’s accuracy and transparency. 

The latest advancement made by IMO in protecting 

the marine environment is the development 

and refinement of guidelines backing the uniform 

implementation of the regulations on energy-efficiency 

for ships. These regulations entered 

into force on 1 January 2013 under Annex VI of 

MARPOL, or the International Convention for the 

Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) 

which is the main international convention covering 

prevention of pollution of the marine environment 

by ships from operational or accidental 


63

MARITIME 

causes.This Annex deals with atmospheric pollution, 

focusing gradually lowering the emissions 

of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrous oxides (NOx) 

and particulates from ships by enforcing higher 

quality standards on marine fuel. Collecting data 

and ensuring its accuracy and transparency are 

crucial in ensuring the success of these regulations. 

IMO is also pursuing initiativeson promoting 

technical cooperation and capacity building to 

ensure uniform worldwide implementation and 

enforcement of those new regulations. Among 

these is the promotion of technical cooperation 

and transfer of technology relating to the improvement 

of energy efficiency of ships. This is beneficial 

to especially developing countries which 

depend on seaborne transport for their economic 

development yet do not have funds or technical 

expertise needed to reduce emissions from shipping 

activities and port operations. Once again, 

the availability of data is fundamental to enable 

such initiatives to be carried out successfully. 

‘Going green’ in shipping not only makes sense 

from an environmental protection point of view 

but also makes economic sense to shipowners. 

Cleaner ships consume less fuel hence generate 

cost savings to the owners which can then 

be passed to the charterers. There is a growing 

demand for ships which are eco-friendly as environmentally 

conscious cargo owners seek to do 

business with like-minded shipowners. 

In this regard, data related to ships’ emissions 

is intensively used by cargo owners to make 

informed decisions on which environmentally 

conscious shipping companies to do business 

with. Shipowners are increasingly finding out that 

having environmentally friendly ships attract likeminded 

clientele who are concerned about the 

‘green credibility’ of the ships they want to charter 

to carry their cargo. Having the option to choose 

which shipping companies to do business with is 

further amplified by the fact that there is a glut in 

the shipping market in which cargo owners are 

spoilt for choice. 

There are now rating systems which provide 

cargo owners to evaluate the environmental 

friendliness and credentials of shipowners. One 

such system is the Greenhouse Gas Emissions 

Ratings established by Rightship, a company providing 

marine risk management services by identifying 

and eliminating substandard ships from the 

supply chains of ship charterers. Big names such as 

Cargill, one of the world’s largest shippers of food 

and agriculture products, and Noble Chartering, 

which account for nearly a fifth of the world’s 

seaborne cargo, are using the ratings in evaluating 

which ships are ‘green’ enough to meet their 

expectations to carry their cargo. With such tools 

gaining popularity, the use of data related to ships’ 

emissions will gain more prominence in the years 

ahead as shipping industry players place greater 

emphasis on minimizing their carbon footprint 

in the course of undertaking shipping activities. 

THE VOYAGE AHEAD 

Despite these advancements made in shipping 

to scale back its carbon footprint, much work lies 

ahead for the industry to meaningfully contribute 

to reversing the effects of climate change and 

attaining the target set in COP 21. 

Although shipping is, in most cases, more fuel 

efficient compared to other transport sectors, by 

virtue of the huge cargo ships can transport vis 

a vis the amount of fuel used, its emissions level 

cannot be ignored. As mentioned, CO2 footprint 

from shipping is set to grow substantially (5% by 

2050) as demand for ships increases in tandem 

with economic growth and growing seaborne 

transport and global population. The predicted 

increase of shipping’s contribution to global CO2 

emissions from transport activities is not compatiblewith 

the internationally agreed goal of capping 

global warming below 2 degree Celcius, whichrequires 

worldwide emissions level to be atleast 

halved from 1990 levels by 2050. 

There is huge potential to reduce emissions in 

the shipping industry through fuel saving techniques 

which could be achieved at littleor no 

cost. These include slow steaming (sailing at slow 

speed), upgrading/cleaning ships’ propellers and 

rudders, increasing waste heat recovery, tuning 

ships’ engines, optimizing ballast water system and 

weather routing. Such measures also make economic 

sense to shipowners as they lead to fuel 

savings and significant reduction of ship running 

costs. Nevertheless, not all of these solutions can 

be applied to all types of ships and individual 

fuel-saving measures cannot be simply added 

together, Still, various studies have demonstrated 

that there is potential to reduce fuel consumption 

in the shipping industry by up to 55% by adopting 

these operational and technical measures. 

Huge challenges await for the shipping industry 

to implement these solutions and continue 

improving on existing solutions to cut back its 

emissions. More promotional and educational 

engagements need to be carried out to convince 

more shipowners, operators and charterers to 

adopt existing fuel-efficient technologies and 

operational solutions and help overcome obstacles 

to their adoption. These include providing 

them with reliable, empirical-based information 

to increase their awareness of the potential that 

exists to be more fuel efficient, providing incentives 

to those benefiting from fuel efficiency to 

share the cost of reducing emissions from shipping, 

and making available financing for energy-efficient 

solutions. 

All eyes will be on the stakeholders of the shipping 

industry – namely shipowners, ship operators, 

ship charterers, NGOs and the IMO - to continue 

their collaboration in addressing GHG emissions 

from ships engaged in international trade and 

offshore activities. In doing so, it is important that 

international shipping regulations are applied to 

all ships in a non-discriminatory manner and the 

interests of developing countries are fully taken 

into account. The efforts of IMO to come up with 

a more gradual approach to reducing shipping’s 

carbon footprint through monitoring, reporting 

and verification of emissions should be given full 

support before more ambitious measures to boost 

efficiency measures for existing ships and market-based 

measures are introduced in the medium 

tolong term. 

64 


COLUMN 

KAVICKUMAR MURUGANATHAN 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sustainable 

palm oil for all a possibility 

 

 

PALM oil is cheap to produce 

and is a versatile ingredient 

in many household products. 

It’s in our chocolates, 

cosmetics and even in soaps. 

The growing demand for 

this ubiquitous ingredient is putting pressure 

on our tropical rainforests and contributing to 

climate change. The expansion of oil palm plantations 

has been the leading cause of deforestation 

in Indonesia and Malaysia, two of the top 

producers of palm oil in the world. Cutting and 

burning these forests result in the loss of wildlife 

habitats, and can affect the cultural identities 

of communities that have for decades, 

depended on the rainforests. 

The process also increases the severity of 

haze in the South East Asian region. However, 

palm oil as an agricultural commodity actually 

has the potential to be sustainable. This is 

because such plantations produce higher yields 

from less land and require far less fertilisers 

and pesticides, as compared to other vegetable 

oil sources. Consumers should, therefore, 

not boycott palm oil but demand for its sustainability, 

as replacing it means having to use more 

land, and compound the issue of deforestation. 

Companies will be the key drivers of a sustainable 

palm oil industry, and leadership from 

businesses is crucial. The sooner they take 

responsibility of the trust and goodwill that 

will be lost when customers express their distrust 

and scepticism, the sooner the picture 

of sustainability emerges. Retailers too, have 

a part to play in championing the sustainable 

palm oil agenda. 

Having said that, demand will also force 

brands to act. Many industry players are waiting 

to hear that their customers demand sustainable 

palm oil, which will be fuelled by non-governmental 

organisation (NGO) pressure. Over 

the past few years, we’ve seen a chain reaction 

of positive developments in the private sector. 

Companies representing about 60 per cent of 

the global palm oil production have pledged to 

eliminate palm oil-related deforestation from 

their supply chains. These companies range 

from major suppliers like Cargill to consumer 

goods companies like Unilever. 

As consumers, it is also paramount that 

we demand transparency from the whole 

supply chain. Supply chains remain opaque 

66 


COLUMN 

and consumers often have little way of finding 

out the palm oil content in the products they 

purchase. Companies can build and improve 

their trustworthiness by being able to trace 

the palm oil they use, back to plantations that 

meet credible standards. Sharing best practices 

and developing innovative solutions would be 

extremely important to push forward the sustainable 

palm oil agenda. With smart collaborations, 

groups with different perspectives 

can find common ground and turn a rapidly 

growing industry into a successful model for 

sustainable development. 

Responsible sourcing will earn a brand the 

priceless but intangible trust and respect of its 

customers. Ensuring that social and economic 

development do not come at the expense of 

irreversible deforestation is one of the great 

challenges which businesses must be held 

accountable for. The risk of inaction may seem 

insignificant now, but if brands are to grow, 

they have to be proactive rather than reactive. 

The Asian markets will shape the global palm 

oil industry.When consumers in Asia demand 

certified sustainable palm oil products, the 

agenda will surge forward resulting in larger 

national and multinational brands to certify 

with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil 

(RSPO). Smallholders manage a significant 

amount of palm oil land. In Malaysia, smallholder 

farms cover about 38% of the total area 

of oil palm cultivation, of which 24% are organised 

smallholders while 14% are independent 

smallholders. With their average annual yield 

of 17 tonnes palm oil per hectare, including 

them as a key piece of the puzzle will help 

balance economic growth with healthy forests. 

In some producer countries where deforestation 

is not illegal, regulatory reform is 

required. Transforming the RSPO Principles 

and Criteria into law, can be a start to put a 

framework in place. Governments can work on 

developing scientific tools, financial incentives, 

and policy and regulatory measures to help 

shift palm oil production to already degraded 

lands. Companies would have to compensate 

for forest lands they have damaged and 

undertake efforts for the conservation and restoration 

of High Conservation Value (HCV) 

and High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas. The 

renouncement of peat clearance for new plantations 

and support for independent smallholders 

would be equally important. 

Countries can take a leaf out of the books 

of the European Union (EU) which has mandated 

that retailers identify specific vegetable 

oils on food labels. Palm oil has often been 

hidden as generic vegetable oil and other misleading 

synonyms on food labels. 

And while it is commendable to see a host 

of celebrities coming together to address palm 

oil-linked deforestation, the next crucial step 

would be for non-celebrities like you and I, 

to send a message to retailers, suppliers and 

organisations. Regardless of whether we manufacture, 

retail or consume, we are all standing 

on the same side. That is because we are 

all standing on the same planet. 


67

ECO EXPO ASIA 2015 

Embracing a Green 

and sustainable future 

Effective learning and networking experience for all for participated in Expo 

A record number of 

320 exhibitors from 18 

countries and regions 

A total of 12 

international 

pavilions and group 

participations including 

 

Taiwan and the State of 

Illinois (U.S.A.) 

Thematic zones 

include Air & Water 

 

friendly Product Zone, 

Green Building & 

 

Green Transportation 

Zone and Waste 

Management & 

Recycling Zone, etc. 

Theme day topics: 

“Global Green 

Insights”, “Cleaner 

Production & Waste 

Management”, “Green 

Building & Energy 

 

Living” with a variety 

of special events and 

conferences related to 

the theme of each day 

12,385 buyers from 97 

countries and regions 

Received around 400 

 

and representatives 

from ASEAN, Chinese 

mainland and Hong 

Kong 

Malaysia’s Lee Lih Shyan (right) with fellow speakers 

Jointly organised by the Hong Kong 

Trade Development Council (HKTDC) 

and Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd., and 

co-organised by the Environment 

Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR 

Government, the tenth edition of 

Eco Expo Asia took place on 

28 - 31 October 2015 at the 

AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong. 

Eco Expo Asia 2015 continued to attract an international 

visitor attendance with 12,385 buyers 

coming from 97 countries/regions (a substantial 

increase of 14.5% from 2014), including 55 buying 

missions, which comprised of 1,690 representatives 

from 34 countries/regions. Top 10 visiting foreign 

countries were namely, Chinese mainland, Taiwan, 

India, U.S.A., Japan, Malaysia, Iran, Russia, Canada 

and the Philippines. 

CONTINUING INTERNATIONAL 

PARTICIPATION 

Eco Expo Asia had proven itself as a leading trade 

show for environmental products, technologies and 

solutions in the Asian region. This year, the Expo 

attracted a record-breaking number of 320 exhibitors 

from 18 countries/regions. Besides, 12 overseas 

pavilions and group participations presented 

at the fair, including ones from the Chinese mainland 

(Beijing, Foshan, Guangdong, Guangzhou, 

Shenzhen), EU, Japan, Macau, the Netherlands, 

Switzerland, Taiwan and the State of Illinois (U.S.A.). 

STAUNCH GOVERNMENT SUPPORT 

Eco Expo Asia continued to receive support from 

government officials and leaders in Hong Kong, 

68 


ECO EXPO ASIA 2015 

Chinese mainland and across Asia. 

This year, there were 8 local government 

departments exhibited in Eco Expo Asia 

together with the Environment Bureau, including 

first-time participants of Agriculture, 

Fisheries and Conservation Department and 

Buildings Department. Besides, about 400 government 

officials from the Chinese mainland, 

Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Hong Kong 

visited the 2015 show, underlining the value 

they viewed the Expo as a premier platform 

to acquire the latest and quality environmental 

solutions. 

GREEN INITIATIVES 

The latest eco-friendly vehicles were 

on display at Eco Expo Asia. The e-Golf, 

Volkswagen’s first pure electric vehicle, as 

well as Nissan’s e-NV200, a multi-purpose 

electric commercial van, and LEAF models 

were available for visitors to test drive and 

test ride at the fair. An electric bus manufactured 

by Green Dynamic Electric Vehicle 

Ltd in collaboration with the Hong Kong 

Productivity Council was also on display. The 

bus featured a motor control system and body 

structure that was developed in Hong Kong. 

Eco Expo Asia also presented a host of hi-tech 

environmental protection products. A case 

in point was the “iTrash Smart City Trash 

Recycling System” which was well-received 

by buyers for its e-money function: the trash 

collection system has a weighing mechanism 

that can charge fees according to the quantity 

of garbage collected. On the other hand, 

the resource recycling machine can process 

rebates for plastic bottles and aluminium cans 

recycled. 

PARTICIPATION OF LEADING 

INDUSTRY PLAYERS 

Renowned brands and leading industry 

players were also presented at the Expo. ALBA 

IWS, BAFCO Hong Kong Limited, British 

Energy Saving Technology, Baguio Green 

Group Limited, China Energy Conservation 

and Environmental Protection (Hong Kong) 

Investment Co. Ltd., China Water Industrial 

Group Limited, Eggersmann, Envac, Hao-Yang 

Environment Science Ltd., Hellatron, MOBA 

Mobile Automation AG, Molok Oy, OWAC 

Srl, SID, SK Kaken Co., Ltd.,SUEZ, Synergy 

Lee Lih Shyan from Petaling Jaya City Council spoke 

about “Green Opportunities in ASEAN” 

Group and Veolia Environmental Services 

China Ltd were among the many others that 

exhibited at the Expo. 

FRINGE PROGRAMMES 

The three-day Eco Asia Conference 

invited 38 government officials and experts 

from 8 countries and regions to discuss matters 

relating to government policies and needs, 

cleaner production, waste management & 

recycling, green purchasing & consumption 

and green building & energy efficiency. 

The two luncheons held on 28 Oct 

together attracted over 280 Chinese mainland 

and Hong Kong government officials, manufacturers 

and business leaders to exchange 

views on innovative environmental solutions. 

A group business matching session was 

arranged to the property developer and hoteliers 

from the Chinese mainland generated 

over 320 individual contacts and business 

discussions. 

Thematic guided tours were organised 

to local government green managers, listed 

companies’ professionals as well as overseas 

trade buying missions. The tours were tailored 

with a mixture of selected exhibitors in the 

areas of Green Building & Energy Efficiency, 

Green Purchasing & Consumption, Waste 

Management, as well as Cleaner Production, 

There were country or region focused 

seminars to explore the latest industry innovations 

and creations from different countries 

and regions. Seminars included “Introduction 

to Illinois Environmental Equipment & 

Technologies”, “Waste Management Solutions 

for a Green Smart City”, “Advantages of 

Japanese Environmental Technologies and 

“Taiwan’s Green Products & Technologies 

Seminar”. 

PUBLIC DAY 

In order to raise public awareness on environmental 

protection, Eco Expo Asia was open 

to public on 31 October. 3,384 public visitors 

attended the Public Day, indicating the strong 

public interest in environmental related events. 

Series of varied and interesting events were 

held, including Public Day Forum on hot eco 

topics and Green Workshop, etc. Visitors could 

also purchase various kinds of environmentally 

friendly products at the Green Mart. 

MORE TO SEE IN 2016 

The four-day Eco Expo Asia 2015 created 

tremendous business opportunities. In addition, 

it had been an effective learning and networking 

experience for all. As a successful 

trading and networking platform for suppliers 

to tap the fast growing markets in Chinese 

mainland and across Asia, Eco Expo Asia will 

be held on 26-29 October 2016. 


69

ENERGY 

UNESCO and Panasonic 

partnership 

Educational support programmes for next generation launched in off-grid 

communities in Myanmar 

Malaysia has long realised 

the potential of 

Science, Technology and 

Innovation (STI) as the 

driver in attaining the 

Vision 2020 goals, more 

so in the current global challenges of addressing 

Urbanisation and Climate Change. 

As a developing nation, rich with biodiversity 

and resources, STI plays key role in ensuring sustainable 

solutions to these global challenges and 

it is implemented through the national Science to 

Action (S2A) Initiative. 

Clean technology or green technology has been 

identified as one of the effective ways to improve 

and minimize destruction to the environment 

through sustainable consumption and production, 

leading to the growth of Circular Economy which 

is a more competitive resource-efficient economy. 

Malaysia’s forthcoming Eleventh Malaysia Plan 

2016-2020 highlighted the importance of pursuing 

Green Growth for sustainability and resilience. 

In support to this intention, The Malaysian 

Cleantech programme was launched in 2013 in 

Kuala Lumpur known as The Global Cleantech 

Innovation Programme (GCIP) by MIGHT 

(Malaysian Industry-Government Group for 

High Technology) in collaboration with UNIDO 

(United Nations Industrial Development 

Organisation). 

In his keynote address during GCIP’s An 

Evening with Cleantech Champions 2015, Dato’ 

Mah Siew Keong, Minister in the Prime Minister’s 

Department (as well as Minister in-charge of 

MIGHT) congratulated the top five finalist of 

GCIP 2015 competition. 

He said: “GCIP can definitely bring our emerging 

economies to the global market. Malaysia 

needs new and creative companies to stimulate 

the growth of High Tech SMEs as not only it 

benefitted us economically but also socially and 

sustainably.” 

He emphasized on the need for Malaysia to be a 

Cleantech Innovation hub with competitive global 

Donation of 500 units of “eneloop solar storage” to 

schools around the Ancient City of Bagan 

status companies delivering solution to mitigate 

climate change and environment degradation. 

These initiatives fit the Science to Action (S2A)- 

Science for well-being and Science for industry 

objectives as part of the Science transformation 

agenda by the YAB Prime Minister. 

The final round of the GCIP 2015 saw five top 

winners from nation-wide participants, namely 

Eclimo, ReneonTechnologies, WaveEnergy, Eco 

Clay and Zymeratics. These five finalists, including 

the national champion who represented Malaysia 

in the Cleantech Open Global Forum in Silicon 

Valley, USA, received sponsored tickets to attend 

the Forum. The National Champion will be pitching 

to global investors jointly with other teams 

from South Africa, India, Pakistan, Turkey and 

Armenia. 

Datuk Dr Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman, President 

and Chief Executive Officer of MIGHT, who also 

attended the event commented: “We support 

the GCIP Acceleration Programme in scaling-up 

technoprenuers towards becoming Regional and 

Global Industry Champions. In doing so, we will 

continue to engage both the public and private 

sectors in inculcating green practices and making 

them a norm among the society today, as well as 

for the industry to unleash new opportunities in 

the emerging Circular Economy.” 

The initial market access for these technopreneurs 

is supported through the National Smart 

Communities Programme which targets to accelerate 

the greening of Malaysian cities through 

industry driven projects. This Smart Communities 

Programme is also a platform to commercialise 

new technologies into the market in areas of 

Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Waste to 

Wealth and Mobility. 

GCIP Malaysia is a collaborative programme 

between Malaysian Industry-Government 

Group for High Technology (MIGHT), Global 

Environment Facility (GEF), the United 

Nations Industrial Development Organization 

(UNIDO)and the Ministry of Natural Resources 

and Environment (NRE) that enables the 

scaling up of Cleantech start-ups through GCIP 

Technopreneurship Pathway towards providing 

support ecosystem in areas of technology development, 

technopreneurship development, syndicated 

funding and capacity building. 

2015 also marks the establishment of integrated 

ASEAN Economic Community which targets 

in transforming ASEAN into a region with free 

movement of goods, services, investment, skilled 

workers, and free flow of capital would benefit 

the participating cleantech companies in building 

economies of scale, market and the pool of skilled 

workers. 

GCIP will be expending its role in supporting 

the expansion of this program into ASEAN, in 

collaboration with UNIDO, to develop an integrated 

and vibrant Cleantech Innovation in the 

region through the ASEAN Cleantech Innovation 

Network Program. 

This effort will commence with the forum on 

“Opportunities for ASEAN in Clean Technology 

Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Inclusive 

Growth” on 21st Nov 2015in conjunction withthe 

One ASEAN Enterpreneurship Summit (1AES) 

2015 from16-22 November 2015 organised by 

the Ministry of Finance Malaysia (www.1aes.my). 

70 


ENVIRONMENT 

Environment 

Day at Pulau Aman 

Contest to 

run for three 

months starting 

on Dec 12 

The Penang Green Council 

(PGC) recently organised 

an event to promote 

the Environment Day 

Programme. 

It was in collaboration with 

Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) and 

Penang Women’s Development Corporation 

(PWDC). 

The programme explores the theme, “Pulau 

Aman Saya Bersih dan Hijau”. 

Penang State Assembly Speaker Law Choo 

Kiang said the main objective of the programme 

was to cultivate a love for the environment and 

to educate the community about waste management, 

especially waste segregation at source 

and composting. 

Besides that, the programme also aims to 

encourage the community to recycle in our 

daily life to be in line with the State government’s 

vision to increase the efficiency of recycling and 

recyclables-buyback processes. 

PGC is a state agency established to carry out 

activities and programmes in Penang, involving 

both children and adults. House-to-house 

Education Campaign, Green Camp, Youth 

Camp and Penang Green Carnival are among 

the programmes which are being conducted by 

PGC. 

These programmes seek to educate and 

encourage the people of Penang to understand 

the importance of conserving the environment 

and its impact to human beings. 

“The Federal government has 

made it mandatory to separate 

solid waste at source beginning 1 

September 2015 in six States and the 

Federal Territories, while the Penang 

government will implement the mandatory 

solid waste segregation starting 

June 2016,” said Law, 

“Therefore, PGC conducted a 

study on the public perception of 

Penang residents towards waste 

separation at source and recycling 

activities from 29 July 2015 till 29 

September 2015.” 

Law said they received feedback 

from 1,484 respondents. Analysis 

(From right) Dato’ Maimunah and Dato’ Law Choo Kiang 

giving out a plant to Abdul Halim bin Ayob (second 

from right), PulauAmanVillage Development and 

Security Committee (JKKK)Chairman, accompanied by 

Penang Green Council General Manager, Thing Siew 

Shuen (standing from right) during the launching of 

“HalamanRumahTercantik” contest. 

showed majority of the respondents understood 

the 3R concept and practiced it in their 

daily lives. 

Most of the respondents separate recyclable 

items such as paper (80.20%), newspaper 

(76.9%), however, the rate for electronic waste 

is lower at 35%. The majority of respondents 

(86.5%) supported that law to be enforced to 

increase recycling rate in Penang. 

Thing Siew Shuen (left) with the winners for Innovative and Creative Contest & 

Recyclable Materials Collection Contest. 

In order to raise the awareness and exposure 

on the new policy, the State Government 

is making an effort to spread information to 

ensure that the public is well aware and is practicing 

waste separation through programmes 

such as one that was held at Pulau Aman in early 

December. 

The programme is not only an initiative by 

the State government to make Pulau Aman a 

beautiful island, but also to raise its standard as 

a world’s known tourist attraction for both local 

and foreign tourists. 

“The State government hopes residents 

in Pulau Aman will be able to treat the island 

like their own homes to have a better sense of 

belonging. The local residents need 

to be more responsible towards the 

island’s cleanliness because the island 

is your ‘home’. 

“Instead of depending on others, 

we are the ones who should be 

responsible for our home cleanliness 

when it is dirty. Hence, ‘Halaman 

Rumah Tercantik’ contest is being 

introduced in this programme to 

embolden the residents of Pulau 

Aman in maintaining the cleanliness 

and beauty of the home surrounding,” 

added Law. 

The contest duration is three 

months, starting from Dec12, 2015 

to March 12, 2016. 


71

ECOLIGHT TECH ASIA 2015 

A SUCCESS story 

Asia’s premier energy-saving innovation show 

“PEA presents EcoLightTech Asia”, “Solar-Tech”, and “C-Tech 2015”, the state-of-the-art lighting 

technologies, cooling systems, and solar energy from operators in energy-saving industry 

around the world was successfully held on Nov 19-21 at the Queen Sirikit National 

Convention Center, Bangkok. 

The Governor of PEA, Sermsakool Klaikaew, presided the opening ceremony together with 

(Ms) Bussaya Prakobthong, General Manager of N.C.C. Exhibition Organizer Company limited; 

Jaruwan Suwannasat, Director of Exhibitions and Events, Thailand Incentive and Convention 

Association and Dr. Dusit Kruangam, President of the Thai Photovoltaic Industries Association. 

Over 100 participating leading entrepreneurs attended the ceremony. 

72 


ECOLIGHT TECH ASIA 2015 

Bussaya said the 2015 show comprised 

all innovations, products, 

commodities, services and 

knowledge in energy saving for 

local and international entrepreneurs 

and created total trade 

value of more than 1,000 million baht. 

During its three-day run, the tradeshow gained 

15.8% growth compared to 2014 edition, with 124 

exhibitors from seven countries on 3,000 sqm. The 

2015 edition was record-breaking as 7,000 visitors 

from 10 countries, and over 1,000 visitors attended 

a conference. 

Additionally, the special highlights of the year 

included full-scale technologies from exhibitors 

in lighting, cooling system and solar power industries; 

more than 10 international and national energy-saving 

workshops and conference; and free 

energy-saving advice clinic. The great feedback of 

3rdedition is able to perfectly satisfy the needs of 

smart entrepreneurs and has reinforced the position 

of Thailand as the ASIA Expo of Energy Saving 

technologies and innovations. 

The company is proud to announce a new 

concept of “PEA presents EcoLightTech Asia – 

SolarTech – C-Tech 2016” as “Leading the way to 

energy saving across the nation in 2016”. 

For more information please browse to website; 

www.ecolight-tech.com, www.solartech-asia. 

com, and www.chillertech-asia.com or call +662 

203-4261-62. 


73

ARCHITECTURE 

By SARAWUT BURAPAPAT 

Ahead of schedule 

Wyndham Worldwide reaches carbon emissions goal six years earlier 

Tourism and hospitality 

business is considered as 

the world’s largest consumer 

(Lam & Ng, 1994). 

The large amount of 

energy has been consumed 

through transportation, travelling, accommodation 

and related tourism and hospitality 

business. In addition, forms of tourism 

have been changed, since people prefer to 

travel according to their interests. Therefore, 

there are the emerged of new tourism forms 

to support the various needs of tourists, or 

called ‘Special interest tourism’, for example, 

eco-tourism is one of the tourism forms that 

preferred for people who interest and care 

about the environment, wild life, nature and 

also the incoming concept of ‘Sustainable 

tourism’. 

Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE: WYN), 

one of the world’s largest hospitality companies 

announced recently it reached its carbon 

emissions goal six years ahead of schedule. 

The Company achieved a 20 percent reduction 

in carbon emissions (measured on a per 

square foot basis), well-surpassing its goal. 

The reduction is equivalent to saving more 

than 14 million gallons of gasoline. 

“This is a huge achievement for a company 

with such a wide and diverse global portfolio, 

and especially one in the hospitality industry,” 

said Stephen P. Holmes, chairman and chief 

executive officer, Wyndham Worldwide. “Our 

commitment to sustainability as one of our 

top strategic priorities is critical to the longterm 

success of our business, and our continued 

drive is the result of an incredible commitment 

that aligns sustainability with effective 

business operations.” 

As one of the largest hospitality companies, 

Wyndham Worldwide accommodates millions 

of travelers every day through its hospitality 

portfolio that includes everything 

from hotels to vacation ownership resorts 

to vacation rentals to holiday parks in nearly 

100 countries. This news follows the signings 

of 26 managed and franchised properties 

for Wyndham Hotel Group so far this year 

in South East Asia. With operationally controlled 

assets including owned, managed and 

leased properties in all of its business units, 

the Company tracks, measures and reports 

on more than 50 million square feet across 

its global hospitality portfolio. 

As further proof of its industry-leading 

best practices, Wyndham Worldwide was 

once again named to the Dow Jones North 

America and World Sustainability Indices 

for the third consecutive year. The Company 

is one of three hospitality companies, and is 

the Index Leader for the hospitality sector for 

both the North American and World indices. 

The Company showed strong performance 

across the assessed criteria, specifically in the 

areas of its Environmental and Economic programs. 

The Dow Jones Sustainability Index 

is one of the most recognized sustainability 

performance rating tools, with the Index 

identifying leaders in the areas of sustainable 

economic, environmental and social 

performance. 

“Our progress has earned us industry distinctions 

that recognize the value we aim to 

create for our shareholders, our associates, our 

partners and communities, and is a reflection 

of our dedicated teams and partnerships that 

deliver tangible and meaningful results,” said 

Faith Taylor, senior vice president, corporate 

social responsibility, Wyndham Worldwide. 

“These accolades validate our ongoing 

journey. But, we never rest on any success, 

and we continue to build on our success and 

raise the bar. Today, we are announcing our 

new goal to reduce our energy and water by 

25 percent by 2025.” 

Since setting its goal in 2010, Wyndham 

Worldwide has reduced its carbon emissions 

through: 

the Wyndham Green Toolbox, a proprietary 

state-of-the-art eco-software program 

that tracks and measures environmental 

impact for the Company’s wide range of hospitality 

and office properties; 

becoming more efficient in energy and 

water usage. Energy production and consumption 

(electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, 

propane) is the leading cause of carbon 

emissions. Water conservation reduces the 

amount of water used, and therefore reduces 

the energy demand to produce and move the 

water; 

an environmental certification program for 

the Company’s participating timeshare properties, 

a first for the hospitality industry. 

Additionally, in the Company’s fifth 

year of formal sustainability reporting, its 

recently released 2014-2015 Corporate Social 

Responsibility Report details its strong, 

industry-leading commitment to socially 

and environmentally responsible business 

practices. 

Ramada Plaza Bangkok Menam Riverside, 

Thailand, part of Wyndham hotel group, 

recipient of Green Leaf Award and Nonsmoking 

hotel award, the property demonstrates 

a range of green practices for sustainability. 

Green policies and procedures 

are entrenched in day-to-day activities on 

site, and are an important factor in management’s 

planning. Tracking and measuring 

the utility consumption, contain costs, and 

manage detailed information that will allow 

it to see trends and from that target strengths 

and opportunities. Larger scope - external 

(RFPS) and internal (educate our employees) 

communication becoming more efficient 

and really reducing the environmental 

impact created by our hotels’ operation. 

This system called CA technologies for this 

Environmental Management Systems that is 

internally called the Wyndham Green Tool 

Box . 

Examples of this hotel’s sustainable actions 

include: using high-efficiency lighting technology 

on more than 75 percent of light fixtures; providing 

shuttle boat passes to guests and employees 

to promote public transportation use; and 

implementing a linen and towel reuse program 

for guests. 

74 


ARCHITECTURE 

Hotel shuttle boat 

Also participation in community such as river 

clean up in September every year, Wyndham 

Worldwide Green Day and tree planting initiatives 

and also provides 525 trees to the community 

in October; nominated and trained 16 

Junior Green Ambassadors from Thai-Muslim 

school to inspire them to be responsible for the 

environment; naming tree as a diamond repeated 

guest or called “Celebrity Tree” project. Providing 

bike storage and parking for low-emission vehicles; 

utilizing renewable energy for some of the 

hotel’s energy needs; using seasonal fruits and 

vegetable from local; decoration with the natural 

plants instead of cut flower, using Enzyme Ionic 

Plasma for cleaning drains and rain sensors for 

irrigation to prevent over-watering. 

Wyndham Worldwide Green Day and tree planting Project 

Junior Green Ambassadors from Thai-Muslim school 


First celebrity tree was named after the diamond guest, 

Mr. Jörg Starke. The tree name ‘Jörg’ refers to the little 

Cork tree near the pool which was planted on Wyndham 

Celebrate Worldwide Green Day in last October. 

75

ARCHITECTURE 

- 

tiatives include: assignment of a Green Team 

to coordinate environmental initiatives and 

implementing annual audits of energy and 

water consumption. 

in our daily lives that we often don’t think 

it. Did you know that almost every piece of 

plastic that was ever created is still in existence 

today? Plastic may break down into smaller 

pieces, but it never truly biodegrades, leaving 

it to leach chemicals into the earth, pollute our 

oceans, and poison animals that accidentally 

ingest it. While recycling plastic helps with this 

problem, the best solution is to minimize or 

stop your plastic usage all together. So we set 

up every 20th of month as ‘Plastic Free day, to 

help end dependency on plastic.” Klaus Sennik, 

General Manager of Ramada Plaza Bangkok 

Menam Riverside said 

that the hospitality industry can make when 

it comes to sustainability,” continued Sennik. 

alone, even small acts can add up to a major 

impact on our environment. And, 

with consumers increasingly looking 

for green travel services, it also makes 

good business sense to take these 

actions. 

As part of its overall Corporate 

Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, 

Wyndham Worldwide consistently aligns its 

responsible way it operates by maintaining 

its investment and focus on such areas as sustainability, 

diversity, human rights, wellness 

and philanthropy. By holistically integrating 

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into its 

business, the Company has grown as a responsible 

corporate citizen that consistently delivers 

results as one of the best performing hospitality 

companies in the world. 

76 


ENERGY 

Indian trend-setter 

Kochi airport becomes world’s first to completely operate on solar power 

Inauguration of the 12 MWp solar power plant on Aug 18. V.J. Kurian is on extreme right 

COCHIN International 

airport, the country’s first 

airport built under PPP 

model, has scripted another 

chapter in aviation history by 

 

the world that completely operates on solar 

power. 

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy inaugurated 

the 12 MWp solar power plant Aug 18. 

The plant comprises 46,150 solar panels laid 

across 45 acres near the cargo complex. Now, 

Cochin airport’s solar power plant is producing 

50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day 

to be consumed for all its operational functions, 

which technically makes the airport ‘absolutely 

power neutral‘. 

CIAL, which has always adhered to the philosophy 

of sustainable development, ventured 

into the Solar PV sector in March 2013, by 

78 

When we realised the power bill was 

on the higher side, we contemplated 

possibilities. Then the idea of 

tapping the green power came in. We 

consume around 48,000 unit (KWh) a 

day.” — V.J. Kurian, Managing Director, 

Cochin International Airport 

installing a 100 kWp solar PV Plant on the roof 

top of the Arrival Terminal Block. This was a 

 

PV in the State of Kerala. 

The plant was installed by a Kolkata-based 

company, Vikram Solar Pvt. Ltd. Four hundred 

 

numbers of 20kW capacity Refu-sol make string 

inverters were used in this plant. After the successful 

commissioning of this plant, CIAL 

installed a 1 MWp solar PV power plant partly 

on the roof top and partly on the ground in the 

Aircraft Maintenance Hangar facility within the 

Airport premises. 

This plant was installed by Emvee 

Photovoltaic Power Pvt. Ltd. Four thousand 

monocrystalline modules of 250Wp with thirty 

three numbers of 30kW capacity Delta make 

string inverters were used in this plant, which 

 

PV system in Kerala. 

Both these plants are equipped with a 

SCADA system, through which remote monitoring 

is carried out. After commissioning, these 

plants have so far saved more than 550MT of 

 

CIAL towards minimizing environmental 


ENERGY 

The solar farm feeding Kochi airport 

degradation. 

Inspired by the success of the above plants, 

CIAL decided to set up a larger scale 12MWp 

solar PV plant as part of its green initiatives. 

This was set up in an area of about 45 acres near 

the International Cargo complex. The work has 

been awarded to Bosch Ltd. 

The project components include PV modules 

of 265Wp capacity manufactured by Renesola, 

and Inverters of 1MW capacity manufactured 

by ABB India. With the commissioning, this 

installation is expected to generate around 

48000 units per day, which along with the electricity 

generated from the existing 1.10 MWp 

plants, making the total output around 52,000 

 

power requirement of the Airport. 

This is a grid connected system without 

battery storage and a power banking module 

with the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) 

has been worked out; wherein, CIAL gives as 

much power it produces (in day time) to (the 

grid of) KSEB and ‘buy’ back the power from 

them when needed (especially at night). 

“When we realised the power bill was on 

the higher side, we contemplated possibilities. 

Then the idea of tapping the green power came 

in. We consume around 48,000 unit (KWh) 

a day,” said V.J. Kurian, Managing Director, 

Cochin International Airport. 

“So, if we can produce the same, by 

strictly adhering to the green and sustainable 

development model of infrastructure development 

which we already follow, that would transcend 

a message to the world. 

 

fully operates on solar power. In fact, we are 

producing a few megawatt of extra energy which 

is being contributed to the State’s power grid.” 

This plant will produce 18 million units of 

power from the ‘sun’ annually — the power 

equivalent to feed 10,000 homes for one 

year. Over the next 25 years, this green power 

project will avoid carbon dioxide emissions 

 

lakh metric tons, which is equivalent to planting 

3 million trees or not driving 750 miles. 

— CIAL Newsroom 


79

EVENTS 

Sustainable Energy & Technology 

Asia 2016 (SETA) 

Date: March 23-25 

Bangkok International Trade & 

Exhibition Centre 

With Asia’s booming demand for energy, the region’s energy industries have become the 

focus for raising environmental concerns. Investment and expansion of the alternative and 

renewable energy sector needs to be the primary source of future energy demands. 

RECAM Week is the must attend 

congress for decision makers 

doing business in the renewable 

energy industry from Central 

America, Colombia and the Caribbean. This premium renewable energy event will give 

you the answers you are looking for to ensure you secure financing, navigate policy and optimise 

operations to maximise ROI. 

EUROPE 

8th European Conference on Sustainable 

Cities & Towns 

Dates: April 27-29 

Location: Basque Country, Spain 

The event will be hosted by ICLEI – Local 

Governments for Sustainability, the 

Basque Government, Bizkaia County 

Council and Bilbao City Council, with the 

involvement of Udalsarea 21 - Basque Network of Municipalities for Sustainability, and the 

support of Araba County Council, Gipuzkoa County Council, Donostia/San Sebastián City 

Council and Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council. 

SUSTANICA 2016 

Dates: June 2-5 

Location: Düsseldorf, Germany 

Sustainica in 2016 envisions the future we all dream of. Breakthrough innovations and 

future trends on mobility, fashion, food, technology, art and much more – brought to you by 

artists, designers, innovators and high-quality brands. 

Sustainica is the international consumer fair for sustainable lifestyle and innovation. We 

invite companies and designers from various industry sectors as well as creative-and cultural 

industries - with a focus on consumer products and services - to register and join this 

cutting-edge platform for sustainable innovation. 

From June 2 to June 5 2016 Sustainica showcases innovative solutions for sustainable 

living at the NRW-Forum Düsseldorf and is also host of the Conference where businesses, 

NGOs, creatives and students spread ideas and kick-start discussions. 

2th European 

IFSA Symposium 

Dates: July 12-15 

Location: Harper Adams 

University, UK 

The theme of the Symposium 

will be: Social and technological 

transformation of farming 

systems: Diverging and converging 

pathways 

SOUTH AMERICA 

World Resources Forum 2016 & the 

International Sustainable Building 

Congress (ISBC) 2016 

Dates: May 17-20 

Location: San Jose, Costa Rica 

“Building Sustainable Cities and 

Lifestyles in Latin America and the 

Caribbean” is the joint theme of two 

major international conferences to be 

held in the capital of Costa Rica, San 

Jose, 17-20 May 2016. As a follow up 

of the World Resources Forum 2014, 

held in Peru, which attracted over 

1,000 participants, the first regional 

WRF for Latin Amercia and the 

Caribbean will be held in conjunction 

with the International Congress on 

Habitat and Sustainable Cities alongside 

the International Green Expo, 

co-organised with the United Nations 

Environment Programme (UNEP). 

The conferences will focus on 

the potential for change in the Latin 

American and Caribbean region, by showcasing best practices, identifying obstacles and 

discussing how to overcome them, and forging partnerships and agreements to start acting 

now. 

High-quality infrastructure, sustainable cities, modern energy supplies and adequate 

waste management facilities are widely seen as key factor in enabling consumers to adopt 

more sustainable lifestyles. This can be achieved by increasing investments by business 

and public authorities in resource-efficiency and CO2 reduction, and helping decision 

makers in government, business, NGO’s and private households to get access to adequate 

information, tools and methodologies. 

Stakeholders from all Latin American and Caribbean region are expected, representing 

national governments, local authorities, business, researchers, NGO’s and students, who 

will get the opportunity to reinforce networks, share experiences, learn and participate in 

an effective and timely technological transfer towards better resource management, and 

sustainable construction and lifestyles in the region. 

For the scientific sessions a WRF Call for Papers has been opened. Furthermore organisations 

are invited to submit workshop proposals. The plenary program, including a high-level 

forum on Latin American and Caribbean priorities, will be presented early next year. 

For details visit the WRF LAC 2016 conference page or GBC Conference website. You can 

also write to info@wrforum.org or info@gbccr.org 

AUSTRALIA 

WIOA Water Industry Operations Conference and Exhibitions 

Dates: April 6-7 

Location: Victoria, NSW & QLD 

All water industry personnel involved in the operation and maintenance of urban, rural 

and industrial water related infrastructure for the management, conveyance, treatment, 

discharge and reuse of water and trade wastes should attend this conference. 

This is one of three very successful `operationally focussed` conferences and exhibitions 

organised by WIOA annually. WIOA stages the Annual Victorian Water Industry 

Operations Conference and Exhibition which provides a forum for individuals involved in 

the water operations to: 

Distribute the latest “operational” technical and research based information through 

platform and poster presentations. 

Update of knowledge and skills plus network development by operations staff through 

interaction with fellow Water Industry employees. 

Provide opportunities to view and discuss the latest advances in technical equipment 

and systems with suppliers and trade consultants. 

80

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