Calcutta, Feb. 7: Williamson Magor & Company Limited has entered into a memorandum of understanding with D1 Oils, a UK-based global producer of bio-diesel from renewable energy crops, to form a 50:50 joint venture company to develop Jatropha plantations in the Northeast.

The start-up area under cultivation would be 25000 hectares, which would be scaled up to 1 lakh hectares in due course of time, said Aditya Khaitan, director, Williamson Magor.

Williamson Magor plans to utilise its unused tea gardens in Shillong, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh for cultivation of Jatropha, which can be grown in less fertile areas. Subsequent locations would also include Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

The company will promote and facilitate Jatropha plantations through contract farming, and will arrange for necessary logistics and facilities for production of bio-diesel from the oil seeds harvested by the farmers.

“We feel that the rising costs of fuel in this part of the world would increase the significance of such alternative fuel sources,” Khaitan added.