KUCHING: Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg yesterday suggested that scientists and engineers in the state conduct a research on peat soil, especially at housing project areas.
The Minister of Housing said the study would also benefit areas in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) which are mainly made up of peat soil.
“Part of SCORE areas are covered by peat soil, which is a very difficult soil structure because there’s a lot of rubbish underneath.
“So you have to compost all these things, it’s a very difficult soil to work with. I’m proposing to scientists and engineers to conduct study on it; what should be done on peat soil in order to reduce the cost on projects using peat soil,” he said at a press conference after opening the Engineering Conference (Encon) 2011.
Focusing on electrical, electronics and telecommunications engineering, the theme of the conference this year is ‘Advances and Innovations in Electrical, Electronics, Telecommunication, Computing and Engineering Technologies’.
Abang Johari, who is also Tourism Minister, extended his proposal to the conference organiser – the Faculty of Engineering at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas.
He suggested that the research be conducted based on Australia’s peat soil management projects which involved building large retention ponds.
“What we need now are scientists to conduct studies, so that in future, we can also build housing projects in the SCORE area,” he explained.
Abang Johari further proposed that scientists and engineers look into robotics technology for oil palm estates, and invited international experts to set up a permanent regional data centre.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, Abang Johari regarded the theme of the conference as appropriate and timely as it reflected the accelerating growth of electronics and telecommunications technology of today.
This year, Encon 2011 received more than 130 technical papers from around the world but only 60 per cent of them were accepted for oral presentation.
Also present at the event yesterday were Unimas vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Khairuddin Ab Hamid and dean for Faculty of Engineering Prof Dr Peter Songan.