PUTRAJAYA, May 19 — The implementation of the B20 biodiesel programme in Sabah and Sarawak’s transportation sector will be rescheduled to start from later dates in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Movement Control Order (MCO), said Primary Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali.

He said the programme would be implemented in Sarawak from Sept 1, 2020, instead of April 2020, and in Sabah from Jan 1 next year compared with the earlier target of August 2020.

"The date to implement the programme in the peninsula, previously set on June 15, 2021, has not changed,” he told the media after meeting with petroleum companies’ representatives here today to discuss current issues and the plan for B20 programme’s implementation in the transportation sector.

B20 biodiesel is a blend of 20 per cent palm methyl esters and 80 per cent petroleum diesel. The programme is a government initiative which is expected to absorb 534,000 tonnes of palm oil per annum.

It is being implemented in the transportation sector in phases starting with in Langkawi on Jan 1, 2020, and Labuan on Jan 15.

Mohd Khairuddin said the delay in the programme’s implementation was due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the MCO implementation, which resulted in constraints in the plan to upgrade 35 blending depots needed to supply the product. — Bernama