Guwahati, Feb. 19: Bamboo experts will hold a meeting here on Saturday to promote bamboo housing, particularly for the lower segments of the society.

The Assam forest and environment department jointly with South Asia Bamboo Foundation, Guwahati, with Building Material Technology Promotion Council, ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation is organising a three-day training-cum-workshop, Building with Bamboo.

The workshop is being organised considering the huge potential and prospects of bamboo and the need to promote this technology in a large scale both in the rural and urban areas.

Official sources said the objective of the workshop was to develop and promote bamboo housing in Assam particularly in low cost housing in Housing for All, eco-tourism cottages, Indira Awas Yojna, rural community centres, schools, hospitals and other structures and frame appropriate policies to make it successful.

The idea is to commercialise Balcooa bamboo as a material for construction. This will help to encourage plantation of Balcooa bamboo in the state and the Northeast.

India possesses the world's second largest reserve of bamboo. India ranks second only to China.

The total area under bamboo cultivation in the country, both naturally growing and planted, occupies approximately 9.6 million hectares.

The Northeast has two-third of the bamboo reserves in the country and is spread out in natural habitats as well as in plantations.

Experts said since times immemorial, the general trend in bamboo construction has been traditional. Beyond that, much change and development could not evolve to a large extent.

Moreover, because of the advent of new building materials and industrialisation, bamboo has become the least-used material among the rural and local people.

The officials said the Building Material Technology Promotion Council has been promoting the importance of bamboo and its appropriate use with the advanced techniques in construction sector.

The council has pioneered the construction of bamboo-based structures at several locations in the last few years.

The workshop will be attended by forest and environment minister Pramila Rani Brahma, representatives of South Asia Bamboo Foundation and from various agencies connected with the bamboo sector.

The training will be held on for two days on Sunday and Monday at the Assam state zoo.