KOLKATA: Defying the economic downturn, city-based Emami group and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) inked a Memorandum of

Agreement (MoA) for setting up a Rs 2,200 crore greenfield writing and printing paper manufacturing plant near Kultikiri in the state’s West Midnapore district.

The integrated plant will be based on the Scandinivian and German technology

. The proposed project will require approximately 1,415 acres and will be a part of a ‘Paper & Allied products Park’ being developed by the state government through WBIDC.

Addressing mediapersons at Writers’ Building, state commerce & industry secretary Sabyasachi Sen said: "The state government has some 700-750 acres which it intends to give the company. Emami will have to acquire some 600 odd acres for the project."

West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was also present at the meeting, said the paper unit will generate both direct and indirect employment of nearly 8,000 people. The unit with an installed capacity of 2,00,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of writing and printing paper will require around 6.5 lakh tpa of pulp wood and around 2 lakh tpa of coal to run at optimal capacity.

While one-third of the raw material requirement will be procured from the state government’s forest resources, the balance will be sourced out of Emami Paper Mills’ social forestry project at Balasore. The project is expected to get commissioned in about 42 months after getting possession of land.

According to Emami group joint chairmen R S Agarwal and R S Goenka, the greenfield paper project in West Bengal is part of the company’s strategy to produce 3 lakh tonnes per annum of writing paper in West Bengal alone by 2011. "The project will also generate employment and immense local business opportunities which will play a pivotal role in pumping up the economic growth momentum," they added.