Use of cup lump rubber in roads to be expanded

The use of cup lump rubber in road pavements will be expanded, the Dewan Negara was told today.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said this was following a successful pilot project with cooperation from the Works Department since last year.

He said while the use of rubber components was not mandatory, such collaborations with technical agencies would see rubber-related technologies to be adopted.

"Buildings, for instance, especially in high-risk areas, have standards that cover earthquake resistance.

"Some of them included (usage) of our rubber," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Senator Datuk Mohd Hisamudin Yahaya.

The cup lump-modified asphalt (CMA) technology method using modified bitumen with a mixture involving coagulated rubber could improve the roads' durability, as well as help to increase the country's smallholders' income.

Fadillah, who is also plantation and commodities minister, said emphasis was also given on research and development (R&D) on rubber to create consumer-friendly products that could be accepted by the market.

Earlier, he said the government, under the 2024 Budget had agreed to raise the activation pricing level (PHP) of the rubber production incentive (IPG) from RM2.70 to RM3 per kg with an allocation of RM400 million.

He said the incentive was hoped to ease the burden of fluctuating rubber prices faced by smallholders.

A total 219,429 smallholders had benefited from IPG with a total incentive payment of RM481.24 million made between September 2015 and October this year, he said.

He said the government would continue in efforts to help stabilise the price of rubber by among others working with rubber producing countries under the Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC) and the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC); and the proposed Livelihood Rubber Price Mechanism at the international level.

"This effort (price mechanism) is being drawn up by the ANRPC to ensure that the price of natural rubber will take into account production costs and does not rely solely on the international market and trade factors."

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