Mr. Mervyn Pinto reports
MINAEAN RECEIVES NSERC GRANT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE LIGHT-WEIGHT INFILL CONCRETE BUILDING PRODUCT
Minaean International Corp. has received a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to research and develop a cellular lightweight concrete infill product through British Columbia Institute of Technology of Vancouver. BCIT will work closely with Minaean's team in Vancouver and in India in the development of this product in its laboratories, and conduct the necessary trials locally before commercializing. Once developed, this cost-effective cement-based product is to be used as an infill material for the company's LGS wall panels trademarked Artisan Composite system. The development of this product will enable MIC's subsidiary, Minaean Habitat (India) Pvt. Ltd., to meet the mindset of the masses and penetrate the low- and mid-income housing market segment that is in dire need of cost-effective quick-build construction systems in India. Minaean hopes to accomplish a significant milestone in substantially increasing its market share in India, Ghana and global markets alike with the innovation of this product.
India is in dire need of quick-build construction systems which are acceptable to the masses. Twenty-six million homes for the economically weaker section of society and millions more for the mid-income segment are required, and Minaean's product comes at the right time when India is trying its best to mitigate the huge shortfall of dwelling units needed by its large population. Traditionally, Asians accustomed to living in the conventional brick-and-mortar houses need to have a concrete feel; the introduction of a cost-effective cellular lightweight concrete (CLC) infill product would increase the likelihood of Minaean winning major residential construction contracts using its Artisan Composite construction system.
With experience in having executed affordable housing projects, Minaean is currently working with the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) to assist it with affordable housing contracts in Ghana. Having a low-cost product such as CLC, which addresses the problems also being faced by local builders and construction authorities in Ghana, Minaean also anticipates being able to attain a significant market share in this rapidly developing nation.