BCSIR to use twister technology to build model roads

FT ONLINE

Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) is going to use Japanese twister technology on a pilot basis to build a model road to ensure a sustainable construction in the country.

BCSIR Senior Scientific Officer Dr Mohammad Nazrul Islam Bhuiyan on Saturday said the road will be constructed in Dhaka city or its adjoining area for modeling an initiative of promoting sustainable road constructions.

Bhuiyan, who has been tasked to coordinate the initiative, said Japan Development Construction (JDC) Corporation provided the BCSIR with technology and finance for the pilot project.

The BCSIR is now working to select a suitable area for constructing the road, he said.

The council took the scheme with an expectation that the initiative will be replicated across the country through different government and private companies in building roads, river and road embankments, reclamation of harbours, marine drives, railways and airport runways, he added.

The official said the BCSIR and JDC Corporation inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on March 28 to carry out the pilot project.

BCSIR Secretary Md Khalilur Rahman and JDC Corporation President Takeo Asakura signed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides at a function in the presence of BCSIR Chairman Md Faruque Ahmed.

Earlier, he said, a four-member delegation headed by Faruque Ahmed went to Japan on August 24, 2017 and observed the effectiveness of the twister technology there.

Talking about the twister technology, the project coordinator said, it is useful in constructing road both in rural and urban areas, river and road embankments, reclamation of harbours, marine drives, railways and airport runways through soil improvement.

The technology can improve any kind of soils, including sand and clay, by recycling and fortify it for sustainable construction, Bhuiyan added.

"Same cost and time may require for construction using the twister method comparing to the exiting one in Bangladesh. But durability of the structures might increase to at least 100 years," he said.

Terming the technology as cost effective and environment-friendly, the BCSIR official said it increases the sustainability of the soil without harming the ecology.

"As I observed the soil improvement process of the technology through recycle, it was seemed to me that the method will help increasing sustainability of the structures in our country," BCSIR Superintending Engineer Mohammad Monir Hossain Patwary said.

Same materials that are generally used in construction work in Bangladesh will be used in construction process using the technology, he said, but it would increase the sustainability of the soil, particularly sand and clay.

However, the model road that is going to be built under joint venture would attest the effectiveness of the technology in Bangladesh, Patwary said.

Lecturer of Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Shahnewaz Hasanat-E-Rabbi said if the roads are constructed sustainably, the number of accidents would be reduced as the drivers could run their vehicles through smooth paths.

The sustainable construction also will reduce the maintenance cost of the structures that will help the government utilizing the surplus fund in other development projects, he added.