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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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Australian
housing concept for tsunami hit houses
by Hiran H. Senewiratne The Australian based low cost prefabricated housing company AVIC INTL P/L intends to promote their housing concept in Sri Lanka especially in tsunami affected areas.
The company is planning to invest US $ six million with a 50 per cent joint venture company in Sri Lanka to start commercial operations within three months. The main advantages of these houses and its compartments are that they are resistant to thermal and sound isolation. The prefabricated panels are manufactured out of recycled waste materials which are guaranteed for more than 50 years, AVIC Partner Shobha Varkey said. She said that once the company sets up the factory along with its local joint venture partner they expect to construct 4,000-16,000 houses a year. Plans are afoot to build 1500 houses at Kilali in the Trincomalee district and they hope to go to Jaffna to popularise the concept, Varkey said. These houses could be assembled within three days and dismantled when necessary. Varkey said that this type of buildings has been designed to accommodate structural flexibility to eliminate cracking and are extremely suitable for locations with seismic and cyclonic activities. The houses consist of a number of steel structural walls. The shape of the roofs is aerodynamic and hydrodynamic to minimise wind and water impact forces. According to Varkey a 500 square foot house takes only three days to build, and costs less than Rs 500,000. This housing concept is very popular in countries including China, Vietnam and Thailand. The houses also could be extended horizontally based on individual needs. The company intends to bring the technology to Sri Lanka from Australia and expects to train 300 Sri Lankans, the other partner Daniel De Smet said. He said that 10 per cent of its profits will be channelled to the tsunami relief fund in Sri Lanka over a period of 14 months. The AVIC houses and its components are ISO 9001-2000 certified. |
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