Kokstad will soon have a R1,2 billion state-of-the-art plywood processing and bio-energy plant on its doorstep.

The sod-turning event for the Hans Merensky (HM) Kokstad plant that will eventually create 600 permanent jobs was halted yesterday until further notice due to heavy rains that fell in the area. The plant is the biggest single investment in capital and job creation in the area.

Singisi Forest Products financial manager Duncan Erskine said the plant will allow more products to be created out of a single pine tree.

“When one considers the type of products that can be made from a pine tree, we were losing a lot of value from the top and bottom sections of the trees.

“The large bottom section of the tree that takes 25 years to grow, could now be used to manufacture plywood products as well.”

This will make HM Kokstad the third plywood manufacturer in South Africa.

The plant is a joint venture between Hans Merensky Holdings and the Spanish-based Financiera Maderera South Africa, and will take four years to complete.

The first phase of the development includes the construction of a plywood plant designed to produce about 23000m³ of plywood per annum. The plant will be in operation by March 2007.

The second phase of the project involves the establishment of a bio-energy plant which will convert bio-waste, including forest waste, pine bark and sawdust into electricity.

The bio-energy plant will have the capacity to generate approximately 60 megawatts of heat energy, of which HM Kokstad will use 20 megawatts. The rest will be made available for the national grid. The bio-energy plant is expected to be operational by 2008.

Also planned for start-up in 2008, is a sawmill and timber yard designed to process 600000m³ of timber per year.

This phase of the development includes construction of a treatment plant to provide treated timber to the market.

The final phase of the project, planned for completion in 2010, is the construction of a medium density fibre board plant which will cover an area of approximately seven hectares. As part of this phase, the plywood plant will be extended to include a veneer plant which will produce high quality veneer wood products for the market.

HM Kokstad project manager Kobus Visser said that a conscious effort would be made to utilise the skills of local businesses and labour.

“An investment of this nature can only benefit the Greater Kokstad Municipality, contributing to poverty alleviation, uplifting the area and stimulating housing and other sectors of the local economy. Training and development of staff will also be a focal point, as state-of-the-art technology is being utilised across all phases of the development.”