INTRODUCING A NEW BUILDING MATERIAL FOR BANGLADESH MARKET
A Norwegian company named Poly ConCrete Norway AS (PCC Norway) was established to handle the business in Bangladesh and outside of Norway. At present the Company is owned by POLYBO AS.
We have also established a commercial, local Bangladeshi company, PCCN Bangladesh Ltd. for the production and sales of polyconcrete/blocks in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi company is owned by PCC Norway AS, together with local partners. At present PCC Norway has 73 %, Varhaug Development AS 3 % and local partners 24% of the ownership.
The New Technology
Poly Concrete has developed a new and innovative concept for production of Poly Concrete blocks to be used as building materials. The method is cheap and environmental friendly and meets the needs of developing countries. The concept is built on energy friendly production based on recycled and new polystyrene bubbles and cement.
In houses: walls, floors and ceilings can be made of poly concrete which is a light-weight material. The material can also be used as dividing walls and for insulation materials in floors and ceilings in large buildings. It holds a number of positive material properties with respect to; insulation, fire resistance, building physics,
maintenance and more. The houses will be inexpensive, quick to set up, easily adjusted for different uses and different appearances. At present the demand is increasing in the Bangladeshi Market.
Introduction to Bangladesh
Today there are around 10,000 brick fields in Bangladesh and as an average they produce 3-4 million bricks annually. Old-fashioned production of bricks is one of the largest pollution causes in Bangladesh today. Production of old-fashioned clay bricks gives rise mainly to three environmental problems:
1. The clay is taken from the top cover and the land cannot be used for agriculture purposes for a long time afterwards. Huge amount of valuable agriculture land is spoiled/lost.
2. The old-fashioned burning system uses valuable wood for burning the clay bricks.
This is the single largest cause of CO2 emission in the country today! Using new technology for theburning process involve large investment for the brick fields.
3. As the clay used for production of bricks contain salt, this has to be washed away from the clay bricks after production using clean water. This is creates a big problem for the
drinking water.
Bangladesh has a great need for low-cost small houses of good standards. Preliminary calculations suggest a need for approx. 22 million permanent units of 200-400 sqft. These homes are today primarily made of clay blocks with thatched roofs. In order to offer construction in great style to this segment, some form of loan schemes/subsidies are required. Annual demand for the construction of size of 500-1000 sqft is approx. 250,000 units and increases by 7 % a year. Installation of cooling becomes more and more common in this segment, but houses are primarily built without any form of insulation. This causes vast loss of energy. The project is especially targeting this segment, which has some access to loan financing and income from family members working abroad.
Bangladesh also has a great need for public buildings in the Education and Health sectors. Also these segments will be considered more seriously, as we believe Poly concrete will be an excellent building material even for these type of buildings.
The Poly Block can also substitute the clay brick used as the main building material for dividing walls in commercial buildings, which are using the traditional reinforced concrete as construction materials. As Poly Concrete is much lighter than the clay Brick, it is possible to save as much as 30 % on the construction cost! As the insulation value also is much higher, considerable energy can be saved as air-condition usage is very common in these buildings. For this market segment the yearly production is more than 8 billion clay bricks (nearly 0.5 billion cubic feet) and it is increasing yearly by 8 %.
Development of the Project
A two storied Model House of 260 sqft x 2 was built at Housing and Building Research
Institute in Mirpur (Dhaka). Floor, slab between floor, roof and walls were made of
Poly ConCrete. This building is now being used by the Government as a Guest House.
We developed PCCN Bangladesh Ltd. during the Pilot Phase as a joint venture
between local partners and PCC Norway AS. A Shareholders Agreement with the
local partners was signed in January 2012.
.
A plant for production of Poly Concrete Blocks was established in Gazipur(outskirts of
Dhaka). This factory has capacity of producing up to 350 cuft of Poly Concrete per
hour. A 650 sft Office was built at the premises. This can be extended to a second floor if necessary.
The Poly Concrete Block was approved by the BUET & Housing and Building Research Institute in Bangladesh to be used as a building material in the country.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have tested the block
and all tests they performed showed very positive results. Especially, the water
absorption is less than the clay brick which is important in a country like Bangladesh,
with high humidity in the atmosphere.
We have signed an agreement with ITCOL(a representative of World Bank in Bangladesh) to deliver 3 pilot cold storages of 35,000 cuft powered
by solar energy at different locations of Bangladesh. There is a plan to build more than
one thousand similar cold storages the next three years. Due to some reasons the project has been kept on hold by the World Bank. We hope that this project will resume very soon.
Competition
Production of poly concrete for building materials has no direct competitors in Bangladesh. To our knowledge, there are no production of Poly Concrete in Bangladesh. The production of poly concrete is a known technology, but is mainly used in industrial buildings in Europe and some Asian countries like Thailand & India.
The Business
There has been huge demand for low cost housing at all times, especially in developing
countries. Millions of people are in acute shortage of adequate housing, schools, hospitals, etc., due to widespread poverty caused by wars, natural calamities, national corruption, etc.
Initially we will focus on selling Poly Concrete Blocks/PolyConcrete mix as wall, floor & rooftop insulation, and other forms of usages in real estate developments.
The main figures from the financial Business Plan shows the following:
The company will use the equipment for manufacturing the products based on Norwegian technology. The project is unique as it allows the purchase of all inputs from the (import) recipient country, including the use of both skilled and unskilled personnel for building the houses.
It is also our intention to subsidize (subject to our financial resources) to some extent the construction of the small houses intended for the poor, who are unable to pay full price of the houses.
Pilot Project
A two storied model house on 260 sqft x 2 was built at Housing and Building Research Institute in Mirpur (Dhaka) in 2011. Floor, slab between floor, roof and walls were made of Poly Concrete. After two years, it is in very good condition! HBRI is using this building as a guest house.
We have made another two buildings in Gazipur and Norshindi. The insulation value of these buildings are very good! Our target is to build another 10 buildings in Bangladesh.
Peoples involved in the Project
“Arne Olsen”, Managing Director of PCC Norway AS. He has extensive network in different countries both in public and private sectors. He will act as the Managing Director of PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
"Øivind F. Eftestøl" In charge of all financial issues in PCC Norway and international coordinator of Polybo AS. "Øivind F. Eftestøl" has several years of working experience both in public and private sectors.
"Kjell Inge Sæland" Chairman of the board of PCC Norway AS . He has several years of working experience in business development within the area of energy and industrial installation.
"Per Steinar Lothe"has extensive experience in strategy, business development and logistics. He is a board member of PCC Norway .He established a big Real Estate Development company named, Lothebygg AS.He has been a driving force of Polybo AS together with Olsend and Saeland.
"Varhaug Developments’’ Varhaug Development is a Norwegian Investment company founded by Inge Skaar. Areas of investment are contracting companies in emerging economies. Varhaug Development has a special focus on countries where our investment can make a positive difference for the citizens."
M. Shahedul Islam is a recognized Bangladeshi Businessman, he heads family business, which is the oldest and one of the most reputed Raw Cotton trading firm of Bangladesh, he is also in the business of Diesel/Gas Generators, Real Estate Development and Ready Made Garments export. He graduated from USA in Business Administration & did MBA from UK. He will be involved in marketing, administration and financing of PCCN. He holds 3 % share in PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
“Nurur Rahman Khan” is a well-recognized Bangladeshi Architect. His main involvement in the project will be to carry out business development and also will act as technical advisor. He holds 3 % share in PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
“Mahfuza Islam” has many years of experience in corporate sales in the
country. His involvement will mainly be inside sales. He holds 3 % share in PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
“Ferdousur Rahman” have years of experience in marketing and will be involved in Marketing of the Poly Concrete. He holds 3 % share in PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
“Yaseer Mahmud” is a recognized and highly reputed Bangladeshi Business man. He graduated in Finance from India. He has vast
experience in local/international business development and finance He will be involved in finances of the Company. He holds 3 % share in PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
“Barrister Imtiaz Farooq” is a well-known Bangladeshi Lawyer. He is a Legal Advisor of PCCN Bangladesh Limited. He holds 3 % share in PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
Ferdous Sheikh has been involved with PCCN Bangladesh from it’s inception as a Project Director. He established the PCCN in Bangladesh. He has extensive experience in operations both internationally and in Bangladesh. He graduated from Russia in Aeronautical Engineering. He will be responsible for operations and productions in in the Company. He holds 3 % share in PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
Mohammed Maksudul Hoque has been involved from the very beginning of PCCN Bangladesh. His main responsibilities are finance and administration. He holds 3 % share in PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, former Professor of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology(BUET) and former Vice Chancellor, BRAC University. He is also associated as an advisor to PCCN Bangladesh Ltd.
Present Marketing and Sales Status in Bangladesh
The production of Poly Concrete blocks began in Bangladesh in July 2011.
We are in the operation phase from 2012 and the feedback from the market is very positive. We have sold over 500m3 poly concrete in Bangladeshi market so far. Our intention is to sell about 20,000m3 poly concrete in 2013.
Poly concrete has multi-purpose usages. Some of the customers are using poly concrete as floor raiser, partition walls, Generator rooms, roof-top Insulation and low cost housing etc. The following customers are using poly concrete blocks/mix for different uses:
a. Square Pharmaceutics Limited.
b. Bay Developments Limited
c. Shanta Properties Ltd.
d. Army MES Mirpur DOHS
e. Vistaara Architect
f. Vitti Sthapati Brindo Limited
g. Amar Desh Amar Gram E-Centre
h. Housing & Building Research Institute
i. SS Steel Building Limited
j. Olive Tree Foods Limited
k. Shamim Osman project
l. Bengal Foundation
j. Criterion Developers Limited
k. LABAID Properties Limited
l. Concord Group
Upcoming project:
IMC Worldwide (FAEL KHAIR SCHOOL-cum- CYCLONE SHELTER PROGRAM) in Bangladesh
World Bank solar cold storage in Bangladesh.
PRAN Cold Storage
EPYLLION GROUP
Ferdous/Dhaka/2013/02/23