Guwahati, Nov. 2: The ministry of environment and forests has given clearance to the pulp and paper plant being set up by Kohinoor Pulp and Paper Private Limited at Matia in Goalpara.

The ministry, while issuing the environmental clearance recently, asked the company to ensure compliance with standards for discharge of the treated effluent from the unit as stipulated under the Environment Protection Act or State Pollution Control Board, whichever is more stringent.

Kohinoor Pulp and Paper Private Limited has proposed a 250-tonnes-per-day-pulp plant, along with 10MW power plant at Industrial Growth Centre, Matia, Goalpara.

The project area is spread over 200 acres, already procured within the Industrial Growth Centre of Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC), and 33 per cent of the area is earmarked for green belt development.

No national park or wildlife sanctuary is located within the 10km radius and the Brahmaputra flows at a distance of 2.5km from the project site.

The total cost of the project is Rs 585 crore.

Kohinoor Pulp and Paper Private Limited belongs to the Kohinoor Group, a joint venture of T.M. Dugar Group from Nepal and Bothra group from India.

Assam has rich resources of raw bamboo, the raw material required for pulp and paper industry and, hence, the group has decided to diversify their activities to the pulp and paper industry.

A source said the plant was expected to be fully commissioned in the next two years and thereafter the capacity might be increased to 1,000 tonnes per day.

The company is eyeing the market in the Northeast and the neighbouring markets for exports as they will be closer to them than before.

Major equipment have been ordered. Water requirement for the proposed project will be 18,000 cubic metres per day, which will be sourced from the Brahmaputra and permission for the same has been obtained.

The environmental impact assessment report for the project said waste water, after proper treatment meeting relevant effluent discharge standards, will be let out into the river.

No impact on the quality of the receiving water body was envisaged.

The ministry said in case of treatment process disturbances or failure of pollution control equipment adopted by the unit, the respective unit shall be shut down and not be restarted until the control measures were rectified to achieve the desired efficiency.

The plant is designed to produce superior-grade writing, printing, copier and newsprint paper.

The raw material shall mainly comprise bamboo-based pulp.

The ministry said adequate number of effluent-quality monitoring stations shall be set up in consultation with the State Pollution Control Board and regular monitoring shall be carried out for all relevant parameters to maintain the effluent treatment efficiency.

It also said all the recommendations made in the charter on corporate responsibility for environment protection for the pulp and paper sector shall be strictly implemented.