MUKAH, May 28 — The Sago and Nipah Development Board (SNDB) of Sarawak which was approved last February can spur the expansion of the industry of both commodities to further empower the economy of the rural communities, said Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg.

With a role of studying, upgrading and producing downstream products in the sago and nipah industry, he said the board was set up with an allocation of over RM30 million.

Abang Johari said studies found that sago and nipah which grew in the mangrove swamps along the coastal areas of Sarawak had a carbon storage rate of three times higher than other trees.

"As such, I feel it is apt that we set up this Sago and Nipah Development Board. Oya and Dalat are the centres of studies for this new industry,” he said when launching the Melanau Heritage Gallery in Oya near here today.

In the meantime, he said the Sarawak State Assembly sitting had amended the State Land Code recently to change the definition of land under the code to empower the state government to control air space and all property on the surface of the land.

Abang Johari said that the amendment also enabled the state government to regulate the use of land, onshore and offshore, in addition to the seabed which formed the Sarawak continental shelf for management and storage of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases.

He said with the biggest carbon storage capacity in Malaysia which was estimated at 30 trillion cubic feet, (TCF) the carbon dioxide stored in Sarawak could generate carbon credit equivalent to RM3.5 billion a year when traded by complying with the Carbon Standard which is recognised or accepted at the international level.

He said the amendment is part of the state’s government’s new economic direction to develop Sarawak until 2030. — Bernama