Our Correspondent
IMPHAL, Mar. 4 (EMN): In a move to popularise bamboo as super construction material of the 21st century under India’s housing for all scheme (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana), the world’s first mobile app on bamboo housing and construction called ‘BAMTECH’ was re-launched in Imphal on Thursday March 1.
The mobile app, which was officially launched by the union minister of housing and urban affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, during a national seminar on ‘Emerging Building Materials and Construction Technologies’ in New Delhi on February 22, 2018, was re-launched by the founder of South Asia Bamboo Foundation (SABF) Kamesh Salam and Susankumar Yumkhaibam, a graduate from National Institute of Design, Ahmadabad, during a simple gathering at Manipur Press Club hall here this afternoon.
BAMTECH was developed by SABF under the sponsorship of Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council, Ministry of Urban Housing and Urban Affairs.
Kamesh, former president of World Bamboo Organisation, speaking to media on the sideline of the day’s function said that there was a need to promote use of bamboo as construction material when India plans to build 3 crore houses by 2022 under housing for all scheme (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana).
He regretted that most of the people prefer other readily available construction materials instead of bamboo, which has tremendous potential not only to transform India’s rural economy but also to contribute to the UN’s sustainable development goals because of issue on lack of technology.
It may be mentioned here that Manipur planned to construct 46,000 houses under PMAY (Urban) within 2022. Presently the state government has approved 26,000 houses.
All the bamboo species available in the North eastern region, which contributes 54 percent of India’s bamboo production, are all not suitable for construction purposes. Only about 10 species such as Saneibi, Khok, Watang, Maribob species (in Manipur) out of 55 bamboo species found in Manipur (86 species in Northeast) are suitable for housing, he added.
Similarly due to lack of knowledge on commercial cultivation of bamboo species (to substitute wood in mitigating pressure on natural forests), India which is the second largest producer of bamboo in the world, continues to import huge amount of incense sticks (made out of bamboos) from Vietnam and China as it consumes 3 billion incense sticks daily.
Kamesh, founding member of World Bamboo Day, added that the mobile app in android platform which is currently in placed in Google play store, would help an individual to construct bamboo toilets for households or public places.
BAMTECH will answer the questions on full potential of bamboo as a construction material for housing, he felt. “So far we got a very feedback from many countries including China,” he added.
