Miri to be among five pilot Green Resort Cities

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BEAUTIFUL, ENERGY SAVING: Chin (right), Lai (second right) and Lee (left) joined by other invited guests admire the decorative LED flowers at Miri City Fan.

MIRI: Miri has been selected as one of five pilot locations in Malaysia to be a Green Resort City to be based on the Low Carbon Cities Framework (LCCF) developed by Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water in collaboration with Malaysian Green Technology Corporation.

The framework was initiated to promote sustainable developments that will subsequently reduce carbon emissions, endorsed by the National Green Technology and Climate Change Council in August 2011 and launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during the International Green Tech and Eco Products Exhibition and Conference 2011 (IGEM 2011) in September.

“The ministry is looking into effective implementation mechanism that ensures smooth and consistent coordination at state and local council levels to implement the Low Carbon Cities Framework and demonstrate low carbon activities,” said Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Datuk Seri Peter Chin after witnessing the official signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Miri City Council (MCC) and IntraMAS Technology Sdn Bhd (Itramas) on Saturday night.

The memorandum is to undertake a joint study on benefits of light-emitting diode (LED) public lighting as installed at three public parks in the city.

Pilot and strategic partners were selected for the application of the LCCF to see its effectiveness in assessing carbon emission at cities, townships and or neighborhood levels.

“The application of LCCF will also involve strategic implementations of green initiatives that could contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions levels,” said Chin.

As such, with the installation of LED lighting at the three parks, Miri City Fan, Taman Awam and Bulatan Park is believed to be the first ‘green parks’ in the country.

This groundbreaking collaboration is the first of its kind in Malaysia and most likely the region, whereby the government (ministry), the implementing agency (MCC) and a leading industry player (Itramas) come together to objectively document impacts and benefits of the much discussed advantages of LED lighting in public spaces.

“This study will be styled after similar studies undertaken by US Department of Energy and its agencies in cities across the United States,” said Chin.

According to him, the prime objective of this project is to ascertain the performance and energy savings of the implemented LED public lights compared to conventional lighting.

In additional, public feedbacks and perspectives will also be sought to provide a more comprehensive report.

Successful implementation at these pilot locations is expected to drive a larger rollout of LED public lighting at other public parks and streets in the country.

For this study, Itramas Technology Sdn Bhd, Malaysia’s leading LED manufacturer has supplied and installed Malaysian designed and made Q-Ray street lights at the three public parks.

A total of 20 units of LED lighting are installed at each selected parks.

Itramas to date has exported their LED products to 17 countries and have won a host of international accolades.

This contribution is part of Itramas on-going corporate social responsibility for the promotion and development of high performance green technology in Malaysia.

Signing on behalf of Miri City Council (MCC) was Mayor Lawrence Lai and Itramas group managing director and chief executive officer Lee Choo Boon.