US firm eyes building sector with rice and wheat panels

Politics and policy

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta arrives at the White House for a group dinner during the US-Africa leaders summit in Washington DC on August 5, 2014. AFP PHOTO | BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI 

 

By GERALD ANDAE

In Summary

• he husks will be compressed into panels and paired with metal framing in what analysts reckon will cut the cost of construction and reduce the time taken to put up a building.

A US-based firm will this morning open a manufacturing unit in Nairobi that will use rice and wheat husks to make construction materials.

International Green Structures (IGS) said it will invest Sh400 million in the Industrial Area-based plant as real estate increasingly looks at alternative construction materials to cut costs associated with brick and mortar.

The husks will be compressed into panels and paired with metal framing in what analysts reckon will cut the cost of construction and reduce the time taken to put up a building.

“IGS structures are durable, affordable, and can be built significantly faster than traditional building methods,” reads a statement from the group’s website.

The National Housing Corporation, which has also set up a similar plant, says the use of such material makes it possible to erect a three-bedroom bungalow within a month. The alternative building material is used as a replacement for stones and bricks, potentially slashing construction costs by up to 30 per cent.

This kind of alternative technology has been used extensively in large-scale government housing projects in South Africa, Morocco and Egypt, as well as in Dubai and China to build skyscrapers.

IGS structures are pre-designed and manufactured, allowing them to be transported easily to the construction site where they are assembled faster than the block and cement methods.

This will be the first US-based company to set up shop in the country following the conclusion of the Africa-America business summit that was held last month in the US, which laid ground for American investors to explore business opportunities in the continent.

The innovation comes amid a property boom backed by rising incomes as well as large numbers of young people moving to urban centres to start families, which has seen home and land prices double over the past five years.