Kollam, Sunday 18 July 2010: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Sunday laid the foundation stone for the proposed sandalwood oil factory at Marayur. Achuthanandan said that the State had made tremendous progress in basic infrastructure development in the past four years.

Welfare, development and peace should be the primary priorities of any government. The Opposition had initially criticized the government. The critics are now silent as all-round progress is evident, he said. The State had shown progress in the law and order front, he added.

The factory, coming up at a cost of Rs.1.54 crore, would be under the Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC). The Forest Department has leased out one acre of land to the KFDC for the purpose. On being commissioned, it will be the only sandalwood oil-extracting unit in the State.

The Forest Department will sell sandalwood to the KFDC as raw material for the factory at Rs.3,024 a kg under an agreement.

It is expected that the sandalwood oil from the factory will hit the market within a year. The factory will produce 400 kg of oil in the first year, 480 kg in the second year, 500 kg in the third year and reach its full capacity of 640 kg in the fourth year.

On reaching full capacity, the factory will require 20 tonnes of sandalwood every year. Initially, sandalwood seized by the Forest and Police departments and dead and wind-fallen tress in forest areas will be supplied as raw material. The government has enough stock of such sandalwood to meet the factory’s requirements for a good number of years.

He said the public sector factory would be a major step towards eliminating the so-called sandalwood mafia from the sandalwood-rich Marayur area. The government has provided enough protection to the sandalwood forests of Marayur during the past four years.

The Minister said the creation of an exclusive cadre of Forest Department veterinarians would be considered seriously.