Tawau: Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Director General Datuk Dr Mohd Basri Wahid admits it is struggling to carry out the biodiesel (B5) scheme nationwide.

But he is adamant the scheme will be implemented step by step, and expects all government diesel vehicles to use biodiesel completely by the middle of next year.

He said there were 36 depots throughout the country and a series of observations and discussions should be conducted before the biodiesel scheme could be carried out at each depot.

The board has also identified several agencies that are having many depots such as the Public Works Department (PWD) and Defence Department for the scheme, he said.

“The biodiesel scheme was launched in the Klang Valley Distribution Terminal, Kuala Lumpur, on February 3. It was a starting point for the scheme and it will be carried out in such way,” Mohd Basri told the media after launching the new MPOB building here, Tuesday.

He said there were many issues like facilities and cost that should be observed before the scheme could be carried out at each depot.

The Petrol Shell (PS) Terminal at Tanjung Batu here have the potential to carry out such scheme within two months due to its extra space, he pointed out.

He added that 10 new palm oil factories in Sabah still under construction, five of them are in Tawau.

Vehicles of the Defence Ministry and Public Works Department (PWD) here are to use biodiesel fuel or B5 in April.

He said 3,900 vehicles of the Defence Ministry and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall are now fully using biodiesel since the trial period started on Feb 13 last year. The industrial sector is expected to use biodiesel in June while the transportation sector in early next year.

He said the use of biodiesel as fuel is to reduce over-supply of palm oil and to stabilise palm oil prices in the market.