Extra FSI to Maha builders who use bamboo

The Maharashtra state government plans to grant additional floor space index (FSI) to builders and developers who use bamboo in their constructions. This use of the fast-growing grass will be an alternative to traditional timber like teak, and help conserve forest resources, generate employment for people especially in backward and tribal areas, and boost research and development in agroforestry and forest-based industries, to add value to it.

“We plan to give out extra FSI for buildings which use more bamboo in their structures,” finance minister, Sudhir Mungantiwar, who is also Maharashtra’s forest minister told DNA. Bamboo could be used for furniture, ply, partitions, and doors in buildings, he said. A decision regarding incentivising bamboo use in construction will be taken soon.

Mungantiwar said that a committee set up by the state government to examine how the use of bamboo could be increased in various functions had submitted its report. “We will establish a company which works on a no profit, no loss principle for promoting bamboo cultivation and its use,” he added.

Bamboo could also be used for making clothes, fertiliser, and for culinary purposes. An official, said that bamboo, which is called the “poor man’s timber” could be used in construction due to its high strength-to-weight ratio.

“In buildings and construction, we can use its strengths and compensate for its weakness by using other material. This is already being done in some countries like China and Vietnam,” an official said.

The Maharashtra State Bamboo Development Board has been established to ensure coordination among all departments like social forestry etc.

BAMBOO FOOTPRINTS

Maharashtra has an estimated 9,600 sq km of bamboo plantations of which 4,800 sq km are quite dense. Bamboo is grown in Vidarbha, Konkan, parts of Nashik and Western Maharashtra.