Nikas to process bamboo at Durg plant

Delhi-based Nikas Commercial Business Private Limited will set up a bamboo board plant for adding value to the "green gold" in Chhattisgarh and market it as a timber replacement.

The plant will come up in two phases and cost of Rs 12 crore.

It will be set up near Borai in Durg district.

"The government has allotted land and the project will be ready in four months," chairman-cum-managing director S J Singh said.

The company had submitted the proposal a year ago.

"We will be producing 10 ton of bamboo boards per day," Singh said.

Besides bamboo boards for use in flooring, ceiling, wall panelling, wall cladding, panel inserts in panel shutters, filler strips for block boards and flush shutters, the plant will also produce multi-layered bamboo boards for furniture, interior decoration and slabs, sleepers and doors and windows.

It will also make small products like incense sticks, ice cream sticks, spoons, bamboo mats and tooth picks.

"There is a big gap between demand and supply of timber and bamboo products can be the best replacement as it meets all requirements," Singh claimed.

Architects, builders and furniture makers were keen to use bamboo products, he added.

The plant use machinery from Korea, Taiwan and Japan and consume 25,000 ton of bamboo per year.

It will generate employment for 700.

State bamboo production was about 75000 ton annually.

Forest officials said raw material would not be a problem.

"The proposal is pending with the department of forests as the department has to arrange raw material. Other formalities will be completed soon," claimed Rajesh Goverdhan, managing director of Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC), said.