The Maharashtra Public Works Department has included 12 bamboo items to be used along with modern cement construction in the State Schedule of Rate (SSR) 2020-21.

Secretary of Public Works Department (Roads), Ulhas Debadwar told BusinessLine this will mainstream bamboo for construction by bringing bamboo for use along with cement concrete. A state-level committee has set the rates for the various construction material along with bamboo.

Inclusion of bamboo in SSR will also lead to its use by other departments of the State Government, he said.

SSR is a list prepared after careful cost analysis. It comes in handy while preparing project cost estimates. Rates of materials such as cement, steel, bitumen and many other items are mentioned in the list. The list for 2020-21 is operational from October 1.

Bamboo expert and founder of Konkan Bamboo and Cane Development Centre (KONBAC) Sanjeev Karpe said the changes in SSR have come about after the recent successful construction of a one lakh square feet using bamboo as the main construction material at the Bamboo Research and Training Centre (BRTC) located in Chandrapur, a tribal area in Maharashtra. BRTC is an initiative of Tata Trusts and Government of Maharashtra. It is being developed as Asia’s largest training centre built for making bamboo products, he said.

BRTC is an autonomous institute under Maharashtra Forest Department. The multi-crore project has been largely funded from the state corpus.

Karpe pointed out that over the years bamboo was seen as a material for building temporary sheds and election booths. But BRTC has set the standard for modern construction and aesthetical architectural designs using best global practices. Availability of finance and insurance facilities will go a long way in the social acceptance of bamboo buildings. Government of Maharashtra has taken a futuristic step in the field of bamboo construction in India by including it in SSR, he said.

Bamboo is a renewable raw material resource from agro-forestry and if properly treated, construction components made by bamboo can have a life of 30-50 years. There are 1,600 species of bamboo on the earth. This diversity makes bamboo adaptable to many environments, Karpe said.

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