When
Bhutan opened its door to the outside world and embarked on the modernisation
process in 1960s, it saw timber resources with its expansive forest cover as
the primary source of government revenue.
The
Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) in 1961 invited a Swedish team to investigate
the possibilities of setting up forest industries. This team surveyed a forest
area of 87,000 hectares around Paro and Thimphu valleys and they recommended
for establishment of a news print mill with the production capacity of 100,000
tons a year or a kraft paper mill with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes a year.
A
Japanese team in 1963 surveyed the forests in Haa, Paro and Thimphu valleys,
and they recommended for establishment of 2 or 3 small ground wood pulp plants
of 20 to 30 tons per day capacity in Haa, Paro and Thimphu. They also
recommended setting up of a kraft plant in Phuntsholing with 50 tons per day
capacity and an Indian team in 1970 recommended setting up a kraft paper mill
with a capacity of 125 tons per day along with setting up integrated hardboard
and particle board plants.
The
primary purpose of the National Forest Policy 1974 was that, ‘forests must play
the major part in meeting the national economic goal of self-reliance and the
forests thus shall strive for 10 percent growth per annum and the forests must
serve the vital national interest.’
I wonder what if these bold forestry projects would have been
materialized!
Comments
Post a Comment