Joint KPIs key to Sabah's biomass potential

Borneo Post

23-04-2025

Fredian Gan
KOTA KINABALU (April 23): A 'joint KPI' approach could lead to closer inter-institution collaboration and result of better and wider outcome for the state, said POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Fredian Gan.
'The entire government apparatus is all for the promotion of state interest, but in the pursuit of their respective KPI (key performance indicator), priorities necessarily diverge and unwittingly result in detriments to the state overall,' he said echoing sentiments expressed during the recent biomass conference in Kuala Lumpur.
At the 5th International Oil Palm Biomass Conference on April 14-15, speaker representing the Research Institute for Sustainable Excellence and Leadership lamented about the lack of success in Malaysia's pursuit of downstream utilisation of oil palm biomass, and opined that closer collaboration between stakeholders is a path to success. He advocated the 'joint KPI' approach.
'POIC is in full agreement based on our own experience in trying to promote the industrialisation of biomass. We found that even with the National Biomass Strategy (launched 2011) behind us, we struggled with other stakeholders, and still striving for a breakthrough,' said Gan.
Recent estimates presented at the Oil Palm Biomass Conference indicate that Malaysia generates approximately 100 million dry tons of oil palm biomass annually, with Sabah accounting for nearly 30% of this total. According to the National Biomass Strategy 2020, downstream utilisation of this biomass has the potential to contribute over RM30 billion in revenue to the nation's economy. However, despite this immense opportunity, the sector's full potential remains largely untapped — due to a plethora of issues divergent stakeholder interests and priorities the potentials.
'I think the message from the conference is a reminder that the stakeholders need to be brought together to draw up a shared KPI, or a joint or integrated one so that the wider state objective towards fully realising the billion-ringgit biomass potential could be achieved.'
Gan said the concept of shared KPI is well known in that it enables the partners to achieve improved performances in their respective spheres, enhance collaboration between the parties and minimise conflicts via pre-emptive measures.
He cited as example the Sabah Biomass Policy which introduced export levy on Sabah's biomass. The levy is part of a broader policy to regulate biomass export and promote downstream processing within the State.
Oil palm biomass include the oil palm fronds available from the pruning in the process of harvesting, and trunks when old palm trees are felled to make way for replanting. The milling of the fruits produces crude palm oil, empty fruit bunches and mesocarp fibres and the mill discharge yields the palm oil mill effluent, or POME. The crushing of the oil palm core (the kernel) produces the palm kernel oil and shells. All this biomass, previously simply called wastes, can be used for anything from animal feed, fertilisers, or processed into bio-fuel, bio chemicals, activated carbon and use as feedstock for renewable energy power generation.
POME emits large quantities of methane. The trapping of this greenhouse gas to generate electricity is now carried out in some of the 130-plus oil palm mills in Sabah particularly among those under the state-owned oil palm giant, Sawit Kinabalu Sdn Bhd.