Page 55 - Forbes - Asia (December 2019 - January 2020)

PROMOTION
cannot afford to continue managing sus-
tainability the same way anymore.”
Sustainability at PETRONAS today is
driven by a clear agenda for a more effec-
tive orchestration of programs to immerse it
into every aspect of the company’s business
strategy and work processes, he adds.
When it comes to community develop-
ment, he says PETRONAS is consistent in
upholding its responsibility in providing
sustainable value to enrich the lives of
people in the areas it operates in, focus-
ing on three pillars: education, commu-
nity wellbeing and development, and the
environment. With the launch of Yayasan
PETRONAS, the company’s philanthropic
arm, in March, PETRONAS continues to
extend its four-decade involvement with
PETRONAS’s education sponsorship
has helped 80 South Sudanese students
since 2000.
communities and the environment in a
more strategic manner and direction.
In education, it supports several initia-
tives in areas where the firm operates. In
Malaysia, PETRONAS has been sponsor-
ing more than 36,000 students to pursue
tertiary studies in Malaysia and abroad,
investing more than US$790,000 to date. In
South Sudan, PETRONAS has sponsored
80 South Sudanese students since the year
2000 to continue their studies, of which 23
attended Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
in Malaysia, investing US$4 million in the
program so far. Efforts are also in place to
train South Sudanese geologists, operators
and technicians.
“Through these initiatives, we are help-
ing them to become experts and leaders,
so that they can one day rebuild what was
lost during war,” says Dzafri.
He points out that the education initia-
tives are geared toward creating access to
education and providing the infrastructure
to support these programs. In East Malay-
sia, the company has built hostels for chil-
dren living in remote areas of Sabah and
Sarawak so they can live near their schools.
Halfway around the world, in Iraq, PETRONAS
has over the past decade established sev-
eral long-term educational projects, includ-
ing refurbishing schools in Al-Rifa’I a district
located in the south of Baghdad to support
900 students.
Its community projects include creating
access to clean water to rural communi-
ties, such as the villages around Pitas and
Kota Marudu in Sabah where clean water
is supplied thanks to the gravity-fed, water
system project.
In South Sudan, PETRONAS’s Water for
Life initiative provides portable water sup-
ply through wells and boreholes—deliv-
ering access to clean water to more than
40,000 local communities—with the first
phase completed in 2018. Using a solar-
powered motorized system, the company
built six water wells in five locations, pro-
ducing 162,000 liters with 72 public taps.
This initiative is in collaboration with a local
nongovernmental organization, Nile Hope,
and the Ministry of Petroleum.
The company’s flagship environmental
project is the conservation of a 27,599-hect-
are virgin rainforest in the Imbak Canyon
Conservation Area in Sabah. To promote
environmental conservation and research
in biodiversity, the company constructed
the Imbak Canyon Studies Centre, a state-
of-the-art facility. PETRONAS has also been
actively promoting the conservation of
mangrove areas in Malaysia, particularly in
the state of Terengganu.
www.petronas.com