HFH Nepal Runs Bamboo Factory In Jhapa

Enterprise In Eastern Nepal Produces Corrugated Bamboo Roofing Sheets Which Are More Durable Than Conventional Galvanized Iron Sheeting

JHAPA, 20th December 2010: Habitat for Humanity Nepal is now running a bamboo factory to make extra-strong woven bamboo roofing sheets.

(Top) A woven bamboo wall panel and a corrugated bamboo roofing sheet outside HFH Nepal’s factory in Jhapa.(Bottom) Women groups will weave bamboo mats and sell them to the factory to turn into wall panels.

The “Bamboo Enterprise for Habitat”, the factory in Himali basti, Charali, Jhapa, in the east of the country, was formally opened recently.

Maha Jodi, a local comedy duo and HFH Nepal’s goodwill ambassadors, comprising Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansa Acha, joined local officials and community groups, plus representatives from Habitat’s Asia-Pacific office and HFH Canada at the inauguration.

HFH Canada organized Canadian government aid money which helped fund the factory.

Maha Jodi said: “Bamboo is a sustainable resource which needs to be cultivated in a campaign throughout Nepal. We are happy to see the corrugated bamboo roofing sheets provide a better option for the poor to be safe from heat and heavy rains, especially in the Terai plains of Nepal.”

The Bamboo Enterprise for Habitat takes sheets of weaved bamboo, laminates them, bundles them together and presses them into hardy corrugated roofing sheets which will last many years longer than conventional galvanized iron sheeting.

The factory’s initial capacity is 180 roofing sheets a day, though this will soon rise to 280 sheets.

Wall panels can also be made, Local women groups weave the bamboo mats and sell them to the factory at the rate of up to 1,120 mats each day.

HFH Nepal is using local bamboo, but has a program to cultivate bamboo on about 100 hectares of land and in nurseries run by local women groups and community-based groups.