YTL Cement Bhd and the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) have struck a strategic cooperation through the establishment of a University-Industry Research Consortium for the research of sustainable tropical limestone karst landscape in Malaysia.

The first-of-its-kind consortium involves Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

YTL Cement will provide scholarships to 40 Masters and PhD students through the consortium to conduct research with matching grants of RM1.6 million for a tenure of five years, starting this year.

The cooperation was sealed by an exchange of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between MOHE, represented by Higher Education director-general Prof Dr Azlinda Azman, and YTL Cement’s subsidiary, Associated Pan Malaysia Cement Sdn Bhd (APMC), represented by its executive director, Datuk Hamidah Maktar.

The exchange of MoU was witnessed by Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin and YTL Cement’s chief executive officer Datuk Yeoh Soo Keng here today.

In his speech, Mohamed Khaled said the cooperation between MOHE and YTL Cement will focus on the preservation and conservation of the environment.

“The more interesting fact is that the University-Industry Research Consortium is the first effort in our country with the aim of building a more efficient network of cooperation among universities and industries to ensure post-graduate research is relevant to the needs of the nation.

“The main target of this cooperation is to build the capacity and expertise to enable the country to conserve our heritage of karst limestone landscape and use resources in a sustainable way,” he said.

Meanwhile, Yeoh said that tropical limestone karst is very important for the country in terms of heritage and development.

“This five-year research is very important to map and study our tropical limestone karst, on what needs to be conserved, what can be used for education tourism, and what is needed for the sustainable development of the country.

“Our hope (with the establishment of the consortium) is that we can balance between heritage and sustainable development for the country,” she said.

YTL Cement managing director Datuk Seri Michael Yeoh said it is the first and only company to carry out conservation efforts in an active quarry.

“In fact, we also plan to set up a Research Centre at the Bukit Kanthan Geopark to function as a Tropical Limestone Karst Research and Education Centre,” he added.

University-Industry Research Consortium director Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Ibrahim Komoo said the limestone karst landscape is very limited in Malaysia, with less than three per cent of its surface covered by such terrain, and only present in a few states.

“We must manage this resource well to balance the need to preserve our heritage and the use of limestone as an important material for development.

“The consortium’s research will be conducted in Perak, Pahang, Perlis and Kedah as well as study the potential and value of limestone heritage in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

The Research Consortium will take a multi-disciplinary approach by focusing on five key areas: namely geodiversity and tropical limestone karst landscapes; biodiversity and tropical limestone karst ecosystems; archaeology, history and culture of tropical limestone karst; economics and sustainable management of limestone resources; as well as the sustainable use of tropical limestone karst landscapes for conservation and public education.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency