A low cost housing plan that is aesthetically pleasing and looks like conventional masonry construction is likely to win a good number of customers from the region for an Australian company. Its biggest advantage, the proponents claim, is that a house could be realised in a maximum of 30 days, saving considerable amounts of money on labour costs. “For those places hit by water scarcity as in most countries of the Middle East, the plan offers a lot of comfort as use of water is very limited under the plan, said Wayne Rogers, representative of the 20-20 Construction Systems in Armadale, Western Australia which has popularised the plan. The plan comes handy in high-density areas where there is more requirement for houses, said Rogers. The company official said 20-20 is currently building in large numbers in northwest Australia where weather conditions and terrain are similar to those existing in the Middle East. “The plan has proved its capability to build houses in harsh conditions as those which experiences temperatures of 50 degrees or so,” said Edmund Damouni, managing director of Antry, a firm which promotes this kind of construction. Besides low cost housing, 20-20 also offers solutions for luxury housing, high-density accommodation, school building and labour accommodation among others, he said. The projects, developed under the 20-20 plan, have won praise from several newspapers in Australia and their testimonials are prominently displayed at the Australian pavilion at Doha Exhibition Centre. The steel panels used in the construction are cold-pressed in the production process so there’s no heat generated. This means the panels themselves have a very high residual value, according to Damouni. He said innovations in this kind of construction included panel and modular systems that are easy and quick to transport, he pointed out. The Australian firm is negotiating with a construction firm to build a housing scheme consisting of 10,000 units in Al Muhanna province of Iraq. The first step towards the initiative was made recently when an agreement was signed during the visit of an Iraqi minister of Australia, said Damouni. http://gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=287609&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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