Assam’s bamboo sector is all set to notch another achievement, with a local manufacturing unit gearing up to produce high-density scrimber boards.

Rhino Bamboo Industry, an ISO 9001:2008 certified company, will manufacture the boards from December this year, having successfully created the boards using the pulp of the locally available jati bamboo variety with technical support from the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre, Guwahati.

The company has already made a name for itself by manufacturing and supplying fine bamboo products like blinds, place mats, floor mats, tea coasters and handicrafts. The products are not only cost-effective and eco-friendly but are also visually appealing.

The Rs 2.5-crore production unit is now all set to start manufacturing scrimber boards on a commercial scale and will be rolling out 60,000 square feet every year.

Scrimber boards are manufactured by compressing bamboo pulp heated to around 180 degrees Celcius under high pressure. These boards have properties similar to very high-density hardwood and can be used as an alternative for wood and even floor-tiling material like marble and granite.

The company’s managing director Rajib Goswami said, “We made scrimber boards with technical support from the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre and will start commercial production from December this year.”

Goswami said the boards were water and termite-resistant and more durable than hardwood and that their properties had been tested in an American laboratory. “As the boards are produced by using high pressure and high temperature, they become very hard and water and termite resistant.”

He said the bamboo varieties available in Assam were very hard compared to the Chinese varieties and were ideal for manufacturing scrimber boards. “As Assam’s bamboo varieties are harder, we cannot make whatever China does, although we import all manufacturing equipment from them,” he added.

Goswami said the scrimber boards would be cheaper than other materials and good quality woods available in the market. “We will be able to sell the boards at Rs 80 per square foot,” he said.

Granite and marble tiles are priced between Rs 150 and Rs 200 per square foot.

Though the state’s nascent bamboo industry is growing every year, Goswami said it required government support to give China a run for its money.

In India, bamboo is grown on about 9 million hectares. But the yield is low — 3 tonnes per hectare per annum — as the cultivation is not intensively managed.