Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha inaugurated a heat resistant latex rubber thread plant on Wednesday at Bodhjungnagar industrial estate in West Tripura district.
The unit is the third rubber thread plant run by Abhiser Bildwell Private Ltd, an unit of Dharampal Satyapal Group.
The plant has been set up at a project cost of Rs 21 crores, which at full capacity shall annually produce 2700 MTs rubber thread that is used extensively in textile industry and has huge demand in Bangladesh which surrounds Tripura from three sides.
Substantial part of the production will be to exported to neighbouring Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest apparel exporter, which is currently is deficient of rubber thread and imports it from Thailand and Malaysia.
CM Dr Saha in presence of former Speaker and MLA Ratan Chakraborty, Special Secretary Abhishek Chandra, Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Agartala Arif Mohammad, Director Industries Vishwasree B, Chairman Tripura Industries Development Corporation (TIDC) Nabadal Banik, Director and Chief Executive of Abhiser Bildwell Private Ltd Vishnu Sharma inaugurated the unit and also visited the production line.
In his address the CM said his government is trying to promote rubber based industries by facilitating a single window system and a rubber policy and said the government is considering setting up an Industrial force.
He added that the development in multi-modal connectivity in Tripura has come up as a major issue to facilitate industrial growth.
Dr. Saha said that after the commissioning of the Indo-Bangla Maitri Setu at Sabroom in southern Tripura, a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) would be set up there beside an Integrated Check Post (ICP) and which will turn Tripura into the gateway of South East Asia.
Later speaking to reporters the CM said that the factory is dedicated to fulfil the demand of garment industry in Bangladesh which is at close proximity and an advantage for the producer.
He said that unit shall not only play a vital role through the value addition of available raw rubber of Tripura but shall also help in uplifting the socio-economy of the state by creating employment scopes beside further improving the trade relation between India and Bangladesh as both shall be in win-win situation.
Again, Vishnu Sharma, Director and Chief Executive of Abhiser Bildwell Private Ltd said that the new unit of the rubber thread is dedicated and shall cater the demand of Bangladesh which has a big textile industry which is considered the lifeline of that nations industry.
He said this unit with monthly production capacity of 175 MT is targeting on exporting its total finished product of rubber thread to Bangladesh where in the textile industry the monthly demand is around 1000 MT per month, and which in absence of any local production unit is totally imported from outside.
Sharma said that they are trying to target around 17 to 18 percent of the rubber thread market share in Bangladesh beside introducing few more rubber based products like adhesive and compounded rubber which is considered as diversification from what they have been engaged in.
He claimed that the unit is in other sense working for value addition of the largely available raw rubber and in the process create direct and indirect employment beside using the rubber produced by at least 2000 rubber producing farmers and which is thrust sector for the state of Tripura.
Meantime, Assistant High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Agartala Arif Mohammad said that there has been demand from the state government of Tripura to allow export of finished rubber products from the state to Bangladesh through the Agartala-Akhaura integrated land port and for which talks are going on at the higher level between both the nations.
He claimed that working together Bangladesh and India can not only benefit themselves rather the entire world, especially the South East Asian nation shall largely be benefited out of it.
