Bamboo facility opens in Aurora

SAN LUIS, Aurora , Philippines  – The government, in partnership with the private sector, recently launched the country’s biggest facility for engineered bamboo products in a bid to maximize its economic and ecological potential and turn the province into a major producer of bamboo by-products.

The P6-million Aurora Bamboo Center (ABC) was unveiled in a two-hectare area in Barangay Nonong in this town and is projected to process at least 18,000 bamboo poles annually into finished products such as furniture, school desks, wood parquet, tiles, home furnishings, and musical instruments.

Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Gregory Domingo said the ABC is the largest shared service facility (SSF) of the DTI among the five bamboo centers that the government has so far launched, the others being in Kalinga, Benguet, Davao and Bicol.

Domingo said they expect to launch 700 more SSFs in the country, which could generate jobs in the countryside and realize the vision for inclusive economic growth.

DTI Usec. Merly Cruz said the SSFs could benefit up to 35,000 Filipinos nationwide.

Aside from the two DTI officials, the launching of the facility was attended by Sen. Edgardo Angara, Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo and mayors of the provincial chapter of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines led by Baler Mayor Arthur Angara and Ariel de Jesus, chairman of the 26-member Aurora Buffalo Multi-purpose Cooperative which will run the facility.

Sen. Angara said a Danish company is entering into a joint venture to put up a 1,000-hectare bamboo plantation inside the Aurora Special Economic Zone in Casiguran.

“It’s a great opportunity for Aurora where bamboo will partner with our coco coir products which are being exported to China,” he said.

The ABC is a joint project of the DTI and the Rural Empowerment Assistance and Development (READ) Foundation, Inc.

Aldrin Veneracion, DTI business development unit chief, said the facility is expected to generate an initial 22 jobs and up to 300 indirect jobs in the province. It will also benefit 170 small and medium enterprises and manufacturers and 150,000 furniture makers in the province through the provision of a kiln dryer. 

The facility houses P6 million worth of service equipment such as band saw, molders, planers, motorized rollers, platters, dust collectors and sharpeners for lamination, cutting, cut-outs and bending.

Bamboo-engineered products that can be made at the center are slat flooring, school desks, and woodworks while semi-processed products include wine holder, chair with sea grass, organizer, e-bamboo cabinet, wall clock, driftwood table, console table with mirror and coco bowl.     

Bamboo is a sound investment not only because of its $10-billion international market value but also because of its versatility,  low capital investment, environment-friendly and fast-growing quality, and the availability of vast tracts of land for pole production.

With the threats of global warming and climate change, and the growing demand for eco-friendly alternative to wood to conserve the world’s remaining forests, international market value for commercial bamboo is expected to hit $20 billion by 2015.

The major markets for bamboo products are the US (with annual imports of $300 million), European Union, Japan, Canada, China, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico and Australia.