Malaysia to promote rubber in road construction industry: Works Minister

ALOR GAJAH: The Malaysian Government is keen to promote the use of rubber in road construction to support the economic growth of the rubber industry said Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof (pix).
He said natural rubber is seen as a preference to multiply the quality of asphalt for road construction and the use of the material will expand the use of rubber in the society and also the suitable industry.
"The decline in rubber prices on the world market caused rubber industry consensus to recover by diversifying and increasing the use of rubber in some other sectors, this is consistent with the call to increase natural domestic (rubber) consumption up to 10% annually," he said here today.
He said this in his speech at the opening of an International Seminar on Rubber In Roads here and his speech text was delivered by Deputy Works Minister Datuk Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin.
Fadillah said natural rubber with asphaltic materials is a great invention towards producing better quality asphalt paved roads.
He said this invention can change the performance of current conventional asphalt paved roads which is facing limitation against temperature changes and traffic loading.
Meanwhile, when talking to journalists, Rosnah said there are three pioneer projects of rubber in road asphalt paving in this country namely in Tampin, Negri Sembilan; Baling, Kedah and Temerloh, Pahang, while similar projects are planned in Kelantan and Segamat, Johor.
"It (rubber asphalt paving) is more costly to construct compared to conventional road paving, but the cost effective comes from the low maintenance the road needed, we are conducting a study especially in terms of cost and safety and expect to complete the study by year end," she said. — Bernama