KUALA LUMPUR – Saturday, June 10 2023: Sabah-based Jawala Plantation Industries Sdn Bhd UPISB) won first place out of 84 companies for the prestigious award, Best Model Forest Plantation in Malaysia, here, on Thursday.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadilah Yusof, who is also Plantation and Commodities Minister, presented the award to piss in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Malaysia Timber Industry Board (MTIB).
JPISB was also the recipient of the Malaysia Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Corporate Excellence award in September last year.
It is a subsidiary of Jawala Inc., a Sabah-controlled company listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) specialising on sustainable forest management with focus on the development of Industrial Tree Plantations (ITP). Jawala Inc. is the only Malaysian forestry company listed on the SGX.
Group Chief Executive Officer Rahman Khan said JPISB, which was among top three, is honoured to have won the award, which will serve as an impetus for greater excellence.
He said the ESG Excellence award and its slogan “Replanting Sabah’s Forest for Future Generations” also demonstrates their commitment to greater accountability and transparency in business processes and operations in ensuring JPISB remains environmentally and socially conscious and continuously strengthening governance.
“We wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Ministry of Plantation and Commodities, Malaysian Timber Industry Board and Forest Plantation Development Sdn Bhd for their continuous support leading to this award.
“We would also like to thank Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor for his strong support for the RP industry under the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) development plan.
“We hope both the Federal Government and the Sabah State Government will continue to support and formulate policies to ensure a more vibrant, profitable and sustainable timber and RP policies,” he said to Daily Express, Friday.
Rahman, who is also Vice President of the Sabah Timber Industries Association (STU), said the RP industry with gestation period of between eight and is years requires sound and sustainable policies which in turn will ensure successful implementation of ESG activities.
“Our special thanks goes to the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) whom we consider our partner for their guidance and sound policies on Sustainable Forest Management.
“Our successful listing in Singapore in 2018 is testament to SED’s high standards and governance in forest management,” he said.
Rahman said JPISB currently manages part of Forest Management Unit (FMU) 14 in Sapulut, Sabah and part of FMU 14 is a degraded forest area measuring 11,043 hectares.
He said JPISB carries out salvage logging from the degraded forest, silviculture treatment, enrichment planting and the development of ITP.
An area measuring 3,375 hectares or 31pc of the total concession area has been set aside as High Conservation Value (HCV) area after an HCV assessment study initiated by JPISB in 2020.
“JPISB has developed approximately 2,700 hectares with 1.3 million seedlings to date with fast growing trees of Laran (Neolamarckia Cadamba), Batai (Molucanna Falcataria) and Khaya Ivorensis. Planting activities commenced in 2018 with Laran being the dominant species.”
According to Rahman, the objective of its ITP development is to replace and substitute the utilisation of tropical timber which yields five to seven times more timber per hectare and its fast growing characteristics has a rotation advantage four to five times versus tropical timber.
“The production of ITP will result in greater conservancy, renewability and sustainability of our forest resources and industry. Our ongoing research and development (R&D) on product development has produced positive and encouraging results,” he said.
The Jawala group has more than 30 years’ experience in the timber industry and is also involved in the wooden furniture manufacturing and green energy through its associate company Jaycorp Berhad listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia.
Source: Daily Express Malaysia
