The Negros Occidental provincial government has implemented various initiatives to promote the use of bamboo technology in building houses for Negrenses.

The province’s efforts support the Negros Occidental Impact 2025 (NOI25), a shelter program of the Habitat for Humanity Philippines and Hilti Foundation, which aims to build 10,000 houses in the province using the disaster-resilient cement bamboo frame technology in partnership with the local government units.

“Conscious of the need for sustainability in all of our workings, measures and initiatives, the provincial government has invested in the development of bamboo technology,” Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said during the Coalition Meeting of the NOI25 at the Seda Hotel here on Monday night.

He noted the province will use bamboo technology for water resource management, restoration, and protection of the remaining forest cover, biodiversity conservation, and infrastructure and design.

“To underscore the fact that bamboo is no longer the poor man’s timber, with proper processing, the use of sound technology, bamboo can definitely be a sustainable construction material,” he said.

In Negros Occidental, some provincial government employees have been trained in design, architecture, and treatment through the bamboo bootcamp and have established linkages with the Base Bahay and Kawayan Collective groups.

Base Bahay is a testing facility for sustainable bamboo house technology while Kawayan Collective processes and distributes durable Philippine bamboo as a sustainable construction material.

The province has also established nurseries for bamboo seedlings, partnered with other stakeholders for bamboo growing activities in provincial lots, and also identified and geotagged possible additional plantation sites.

“With these initiatives, we will be more capable of providing enough treated bamboo for the housing needs of the province,” Lacson said.

During the gathering, chief executive officers Jonathan Reckford and Ma. Remedios Mapa-Suplido of the Habitat for Humanity International and Philippines, respectively, joined Lacson, Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, and other local chief executives in the province as well as representatives from various partner institutions.

Earlier on Monday, Reckford and Mapa-Suplido visited San Carlos City, one of the identified housing sites, where international and local volunteers came together to help build disaster-resilient houses.

The NOI25 pilot project is in Silay City, where more than 500 houses are being built. (PNA)