Silchar, Aug. 17: The Mizoram government has charted a new roadmap to accelerate the state’s economic growth with the focus on bamboo, which the state has in abundance.

Industry and information technology minister K. Thangzuala said over phone from Aizawl that the government had chalked out a three-pronged plan to develop the bamboo industry. He said two plants would be set up to churn out bamboo products.

The other facets of the scheme are popularising bamboo ware as items of export and gearing up bamboo harvesting in the state under the aegis of the Bamboo Development Agency.

The minister said the proposed bamboo plants would be located at Sairang, 10 km from the state capital.

The government signed a memorandum of understanding early this month with Venus Bamboo Products, a firm based at Falta near Calcutta, to set up a Rs 5-crore bamboo processing plant at Sairang.

The plant will manufacture an array of products like bamboo boards, doors, windows, floor spreads and handicrafts by utilising the muli bamboo. Work on the second plant, another collaborative venture between the Taiwan-based Borke Machine Company and the government, will begin soon. The outlay for the project has been pegged at Rs 4 crore.