Presentation made by Suman Udas from Clean Energy Nepal at the "Low Carbon Options in South Asia" workshop held in Nepal in August 2014.

1. Status and Opportunities of
Promoting Bamboo and Hollow
Concrete Block as Low Carbon
Construction Material
Suman Udas
Clean Energy Nepal

2. Existing Housing Scenario in Nepal
4,253,220
5,427,302
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
2001/2002 2011/2012
Number of houses
27.6% increase in houses
There will be an additional need of 1 million urban houses from 2011-21 (UN-Habitat, 2011).

3. Household by type of foundation
44.2%
17.6%
9.9%
24.9%
2.3% 1.1%
Mud bonded bricks/stone
Cement bonded bricks/stone
RCC with pillar
Wooden pillar
Others
Not Stated
Source: CBS(2012)

4. Household by type of walling material
41.4%
28.7%
5.3%
20.2%
2.1%
1.1%
1.1%
Mud bonded bricks/ stone
Cement bonded bricks/stone
Wood/planks
Bamboo
unbaked brick
others
unstated
Source: CBS(2012)

5. Existing Housing Scenario in Nepal
• Traditional houses with mud and stone were common in the past
• Traditional houses were designed to suit local climate using
indigenous knowledge and locally available materials like soil, stone,
timber, bamboo and woods.
• Traditional buildings has decreased dramatically during past six
decades
• Use of contemporary material like cement, brick, concrete, steel and
aluminum for RCC frame building has increased.

6. Existing Housing Scenario in Nepal
• 700 brick kilns in Nepal of which 120 are operating in the Kathmandu valley
itself (ICIMOD, 2014). The capacities of these kilns range from 15,000 to
50,000 bricks per day.
• Kathmandu Valley is losing at least 217,000 cubic meter of top fertile soil
due to uncontrolled excavation to produce 117 million bricks per year.
• Nepal consumes 350,000 tons of steel rods per year.
• Nepal at present consumes around 2,500,000 MT of cement. Cement sales
have been increased by 10% annually in 2013. (Nepal Cement
Manufacturer’s Association, 2013)
• Domestic cement production fulfills 75% of total consumption in Nepal
(Nepal Cement Manufacturer’s Association, 2014). The remaining demand
is met by imports from India.

7. Use of Bamboo in Housing
and Building Construction
Bamboo - A material for cost effective and energy efficient building
construction

8. Traditional Bamboo Uses in Nepal
Worldwide bamboo is used 1500 ways and in Nepal it is reported to be used 294 ways

9. Major Uses of Bamboo in Construction
• Scaffolding
• Reinforcement
• Roofing
• Walling
• Doors & Windows
Source: Abari
Source: http://thenepalproject.org/
Source: http://www.travel-images.com

10. Opportunities of Bamboo Housing
• Bamboo processing and production consumes less energy compared to
other building materials. It requires only 30 MJ/m3 compared to concrete,
steel and timber, that require 240, 500 and 80 MJ/m3 respectively.
• Bamboo houses are environment friendly and have better earthquakes
resistance
• There is a great opportunity to promote bamboo for the construction of
houses by converting or processing bamboo into engineered panels.
Existing value added market for the panel based (engineered) bamboo
housing is almost none in Nepal providing great opportunity to explore this
market.
• Bamboo houses would contribute to the society by providing affordable
but quality prefabricated bamboo houses to poor and homeless people.

11. Bamboo Resources in Nepal
• In Nepal, 12 genera and more than 50 species of bamboo have been
recorded so far (TIS, 2004).
• Nepal has 5 genera and 27 species under large bamboo species which
are commonly called Bans in local language and come in Bambusae
tribe. Small bamboos include 15 genera and 35 species. On the other
hand 3 genera and 4 species fall under dwarf bamboo species.
• The total bamboo coverage area in Nepal is estimated to be around
63,000 hectares, out of which 60 percent is estimated to be in natural
forests.

12. Bamboo Resources in Nepal
• Estimated total growing stock is around 15 million cubic metre with
an approximate biomass value of 1060 M. tons (Karki and Karki, 1995)
• About 3.3 million farming families are estimated to be somehow
involved either as producers or users of bamboo based products
(Pant 2006).
Market Annual Trade of Bamboo
Local Market 1.9 million culms
Domestic Market 0.6 – 0.7 million culms
India 0.5 million culms
Bamboo based economy only contributes 1-2% to the national GDP. (Karki et. at 1998)

13. Area of Bamboo Agricultural Land
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
6000
6300
7230
1991/1992 2001/2002 2011/2012
Area(in hectares)
Source: CBS(2012)

14. Bamboo Agricultural Land Distribution by Region
3100
2300
700
200
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Eastern Central Western Mid-western Far-western
Area(in hectares)
Source: CBS(2012)

15. Samata Sikshya Niketan
(Bamboo Schools)
Samata Sikshya Niketan is a privately managed
community school which provides education
up to higher secondary (Grade 12) in only NRs.
100 per month.
source: http://nepalesechildren.blogspot.com/
19 different schools around the country so far
and interesting thing about this school is that
all the school building, compounds and
furniture are made from bamboo.
source: http://fr.ulule.com/

16. Habitat for Humanity Bamboo Houses
• Habitat for Humanity (HFH) started engineered bamboo housing
for poor people to uplift the living standards of the rural poor in
eastern districts of Nepal
• The houses constructed are one storied with the use of wood,
bamboo, concrete, bricks, Corrugated Galvanized Iron (CGI)
roofing sheets and mud tiles.
280 Sq.ft house, Stone foundation, Bamboo wall plastered with cement
(Source: Habitat For Humanity)
280 Sq.ft. house, stone foundation, Bamboo wall in timber frame with cement plaster and
tin sheet roof (Source: Habitat for Humanity)
• HFH constructed 20,000 houses by 2012 using low cost
bamboo housing techniques.
• HFH envisions to build 100,000 by 2016 using low cost
and eco-friendly housing techniques such as bamboo.

17. Challenges Ahead
• Concept and Perception of bamboo as construction material
• Supporting Policies
• Quality assurance and aesthetic value of materials
• Technology and Research

18. Use of Hollow Concrete Block
in Building Construction
Hollow Concrete Block - A material for cost effective and energy
efficient building construction

19. Existing Scenario of HCB Market
• Hollow Concrete Block (HCB) is a walling material,
applicable to both load bearing and framed structure
buildings. In Nepal, mostly used under Load bearing
system for constructing houses
• No inventory on number of HCB industries across Nepal.
There are numerous formal and informal small scale
enterprises producing HCB
• A mixture of cement: sand: aggregate in the proportion
of 1:3:5 is usually considered suitable for constructing
blocks for load bearing wall. However, in market there is
no quality assurance
• HCB houses are cheaper compared to RCC buildings and
are more energy efficient, however the use of these
materials has not been in substantial numbers due to
lack of incentives and supportive policies. (Shrestha,
2013).

20. Opportunities of HCB
• Brick one of the most used construction material in Nepal has a very high
embodied energy level(100~170% higher than hollow concrete blocks) and
to meet the need for 1 million housing, 20 billions of bricks will be needed
i.e. 85,000 tera-joule energy will be needed. Hollow Concrete Block has
potential to replace brick for achievement of low carbon development path
• Nepal lies in seismic zone and HCB provides opportunity to develop
Earthquake resistant houses preventing disaster
• Unlike clay burnt brick, HCB does not use top fertile soil for production
• The building construction with HCB is easier and faster making
construction more cost-effective. HCB houses are 30-40% cheaper
compared to RCC frame building and contribute to the society by providing
affordable houses to poor.

21. Housing for People
(Janata Aawas Karyakram)
• Government initiative on low cost housing to support poor and
marginalized groups in Sarlahi, Mahottari and Surkhet
• Government’s target failed due to the lack of social acceptance and public
opposition.
• General impression of low cost housing for the people means low quality
who are unaware of the technologies and its benefits
• People demanded government should make quality houses using the
cement mortar and burnt bricks instead of HCB, soil cement blocks and
bamboo
• Government was forced to construct cement brick masonry houses. The
program has a target of construction some 3000 houses and about 2200
houses are already completed

22. HCB Housing at Sitapaila
Sailesh Shrestha: “The main reason I bought this house was due to its cost
which was about 4.5 million rupees including land that was almost half of
the price to buy RCC house of the same size and other reason was
assurance of quality of house. My neighbors and relatives generally
perceive this house made of HCB to be weak but it is not so.”
Santosh Man Shrestha: “Many people are interested and
ask about HCB housing, but most people hesitate to go
for HCB house as people perceive RCC are safe
compared to HCB house which are built under load
bearing system.”
Rajesh Manandhar: “I am keen in building HCB house in near
future.”
Bidur Pandey: “The main reason he bought the house was due
to its low cost and trust in the quality of house.”

23. Housing in Satungal
• Three HCB houses constructed in Satungal with main
objective to provide house for poor people living in that
area
• After the construction, in consensus with the ward
office, the houses sold at NRs 0.5 million through
application procedure based on the lucky draw.
• Other owner of the house bought this house for
NRs 2 million from the owner who bought this
house for NRs 0.5 million within a year.
• He feels cheated knowing that this house is made
of HCB and cost was only NRs 0.5 million.
• Kamala Giri, bought this house for NRs 1.65 million
from the owner who bought this house for NRs 0.5
million within a month of lucky draw.
• She was unaware while buying house that this house
was low cost only of NRs 0.5 million made of HCB
which has made her perception that the house she
owns is of very low quality.

24. Housing in Lamatar by Bhatbhateni Group
• More than 100 houses under construction
• Of 100 houses being constructed, 70 of them are already
booked.
• Each house two and a half storied with 3 rooms in each floor
• The price for a houses with area of 1324 sq. ft is NRs. 3.7
million including price of land.
• Main reason for sale of this house is because of low prices
with assurance of quality and presentation of brand.
• HCB are produced on construction site and sample from
production is tested for strength in Pulchowk Engineering
Campus for quality control.
• Big potential of HCB housing in the future due to its cost
effectiveness. Future plan to expand its market

25. Challenges Ahead
• Concept of Hollow Concrete Brick as an alternative to brick
• Code and Regulation
• Limited Availability and lack of information
• Quality assurance and aesthetic value
• Research