D1 Oils Madagascar announced Tuesday that it would construct its first biodiesel refinery in 2008 in the large Indian Ocean island.

"So far, 900 hectares are already cultivated," Sally Ross, director of D1 Oils Madagascar said, adding that the cultivation was part of the plan for 20,000 hectares in the country in 2008.

"We consider installing the first refining unit the same year," she said.

For the moment, the plantation concentrates in Bongolava and Analamanga in the central province of Antananarivo, as well as in Alaotra-Mangoro in the eastern province of Toamasina.

Ross had previously said the firm planned to employ 15,000 farmers in 2008 to plant the Jatropha tree, which has large leaves and produces fuel

emitting water vapor rather than carbon dioxide.

The price of a litre of Jatropha fuel is expected to be almost the same as that of ordinary diesel oil in Madagascar.

Source: Xinhua