On 23 November, Habitat Kyrgyzstan Foundation -- 2006 Development Marketplace Winner from the Kyrgyz Republic – held a ceremony to celebrate a major milestone in the project "Cane reed:19th Century Idea, 21st Century Solution". 

The goal of the project was to improve the living conditions of poor families in Bishkek through the provision of affordable housing and environmentally clean home heating systems.  During the ceremony, keys from new multi-apartment houses built with the Bank’s financial support were given to 10 families.  The houses were built with a combination of a traditional but forgotten construction method using cane reed and clay with a technological innovation to create an affordable under-floor heating system. The benefits of this innovative construction technique are significant: 40 percent reduction in the cost of home construction and maintenance and 75 percent reduction in heating costs.  The Bank-supported project was a pilot.  After it demonstrates efficiency and sustainability, the project will be replicated to other areas.

Project description
Some 70 percent of the population in Kyrgystan lives in substandard conditions due to a combination of prohibitively high prices, increasing urban migration and the traditionally limited housing stock.  Those houses which are affordable for low-income families often lack heat, water and other basic services, thereby forcing inhabitants to improvise with unsafe, unhealthy makeshift furnaces.  In the rare cases where heat is available, the resultant environmental degradation is significant and the costs are prohibitive, often costing as much as 50 percent of a poor family income.

For more information, visit: http://www.habitat.elcat.kg