JK Paper Signs Rs 1,500-crore MoU with the government of Gujarat

At the signing, the chief minister was imformed about JK Papers' initatives on environmental sustainability and how the tribal farmers of the region stand to benefit from the project.

The chief minister was accompanied by MK Das, principal Secretary, industries and mines department; Mamta Verma, industries commissioner, and RK Beniwal, managing director, iNDEXTb.

The manufacturing unit is located in the tribal belt in southern Gujarat and already provides permanent employment to 2,200 locals. The expansion will provide employment to approximately 1,000 more members of the local community as well as will benefit the tribal farmers in the region who supply raw material for the paper manufacturing unit.

With the increased capacity, the plant will benefit close to 10,000 new farmers in the region.

According to the company, special effort has been made to make this new unit environmentally sustainable with a minimal carbon footprint. The effluent water from the factory is treated and reused for farming.

JK Paper also ensures that the number of saplings planted always outnumbers the number of saplings harvested for raw material requirements. This increases the green cover of the region.

JK Paper is undertaking this modernisation and expansion project at the Songadh unit with an investment of Rs 1,500-crore and will increase the plant’s pulp processing capacity from 60,000-TPA to 1,60,000-TPA and packaging board from 1,00,800-TPA to 3,00,800-TPA.

The new plant will be the most modern and technologically updated in the country and will focus on producing multilayer coated board paper and will produce some such papers for the first time in India.

Harsh Pati Singhania, vice-chairman and managing director, JK Paper, said, “Gujarat’s consistent policy regime and stable government while attracting new investors, has also encouraged existing investors to expand their operations in the state. It has consistently ranked among the top five states in terms of ease of doing business and we look forward to long and fruitful relationship with the state.”

The company will further intensify its drive to do more plantations and ensure the raw material security for the new project. This will also increase the green cover as well as additional employment opportunities for the tribal farmers and other rural people. The company is wood and carbon positive and in future also the same ideology will kept in mind while pursuing the expansion project.