El Sol newspaper | Bordet promotes strategies with Canada to incorporate added value to wood

Governor Gustavo Bordet met Thursday at the Montreal Chamber of Commerce to advance the development of wooden homes in the province. "The challenge is to generate added value and that's why we talk about wooden homes and furniture industry," he said.

"The challenge for the future is to generate added value and that is why we talk about wooden homes and furniture industry to be able to have a greater development and generation of employment," Bordet said in the framework of the trade mission to Canada financed by the Federal Council of Investments (IFC). He also valued the relationship with the governors of Misiones, Hugo Passalaqua, and Corrientes, Gustavo Valdez, with whom, he said, they share "the same vision, of what is the future of the industrial forestry sector."

"Today we are executing wooden houses in four locations in Entre Ríos," Bordet said after the meeting with the director of International Market Development of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, Erandi Motte-Cortes and the consul general in that city, Fabiana Loguzzo "The intention is to be able to add scale to entrerriana companies so that they can produce series and faster housing units," he said.

"We have a lot of wood that is currently being exported in logs that goes to China, and it would be very good if that wood has a value-added process and can be applied in homes for our production," he explained.

The Entre Rican president highlighted the growth of industrial forestry activity in the province and in the region and the momentum that this type of construction means. In that sense, he reiterated the need to "tear down the myths that say that wooden houses are of inferior quality", and stressed that "one can see that here, in Canada, even the most luxurious houses are wooden."

"When analyzed in detail, it is found that wooden housing is much cheaper, and much more insulating, faster in its construction," Bordet explained in reference to the Canadian experience. "You can see that they withstand temperatures of 25 degrees below zero and more quietly," he warned.

"We must begin to carry out this demystification," Bordet said and clarified that "in what concerns us, as a provincial state, we are doing it through the construction of social housing, within the framework of our provincial housing program , and people are very happy ». "Today we are running wooden homes in four towns in Entre Ríos," he recalled.

Along these lines, Bordet also valued the exchange of experiences and technology that has taken place between Canadian universities and institutions in Concordia. “It was normal for Entre Ríos to come to the University of Quebec to want to form cooperatives and workers for the construction of wooden houses. Then it has come here from the industrial forest area to see the production systems, ”said the president, and noted that“ a few years ago we managed to approve the necessary technical proficiency certificate, thanks to which we started the first construction of wooden houses of social interest ».

"Also the Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) Concordia has a long process of development of wooden houses," said the president and referred to his stage as mayor: "We work together with INTA and seek to encourage people to build homes of wood for the quality, and because it is necessary to leave a little of what it is the tradition to do in concrete to be able to go to work in dry material, that really gives a remarkable result and of a lot of quality ».

In addition, the president recalled a wood construction experience developed by INTA Concordia that after a storm in which all the surrounding trees fell, remained standing, and agreed that the construction was "formidable." "It's much simpler and simpler," he reiterated and called people to "cheer up."

In addition, Bordet highlighted the impulse that the reactivation of the ports that carried out its management has meant for timber activity throughout Mesopotamia: «Today the logs that are emerging are made of pine, which come from Misiones and we have begun First shipments last week of eucalyptus and poplar to China, last week. This can open a great opportunity for us in the future, ”he said.

“The logs that are being exported are the surplus and the truth is that you have to take it out quickly. And today we are operating by Concepción del Uruguay, it is completed in Montevideo, but the good news is that the completion we are doing in Ibicuy. And the other good news is that the plump that comes from Misiones arrives by train to the branch of Holt Ibicuy, which since it was closed had not been used and today is coming with logs and the ship leaves directly to China with the wood that comes from Missions, ”Bordet described in Canada.

Finally, he did not rule out that "poplar can also be very interesting in the future because we also have a large production and this can be very interesting in a market such as Chino, which is very large", however "the challenge in the future is to generate value added and that is why we talk about wooden houses and furniture industry to be able to have a greater development in terms of added value and employment generation, ”Bordet concluded and recalled that“ I have participated in all the forest tables and we discuss this among all ”.