'Made in Bangladesh' wooden houses make their way to Europe
Each of the homes cost around Tk20 lakh-Tk25 lakh, depending on the price of wood
Have you ever seen a house that's entirely made of wood?
In a rural village in Bangladesh's Bagerhat, carpenters work from dawn to dusk to make such houses.
The products' destination? Belgium.
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Everything in these houses — the walls, doors, windows, roofs and the structure that holds it all together – is all made of mahogany wood.
"We need to hand over 120 wooden houses within the next two years to a buyer in Belgium. As per the contract, the houses need to be built using local mahogany wood," said Mostafiz Ahmed, founder of Natural Fibre Enterprise in Bagerhat.
The order that came earlier this year also has some conditions.
Each of the raw materials used needs to be biodegradable and environmentally friendly.
"No products harmful to the environment will be accepted," Mostafiz said.
The wood is sourced in a sustainable and eco-friendly manner.
Each of the homes cost around Tk20 lakh-Tk25 lakh, depending on the price of wood.
The initiative has already created new markets and employment opportunities in the southern district.
The process
Visiting Bagerhat's Korarit, the village where these wooden houses are being made in a local factory, this correspondent saw local carpenters working on different components of the houses.
Some of them were making the doors and windows, while others were making frames and walls.
Finally, the skilled hands of the carpenters finish these aesthetically pleasing and eco-friendly wooden houses through painting and polishing.
The homes are 11 meters long and over 4 meters wide.
Later, the entire house gets cut into smaller segments, making it easier to transport in a compact form.
The houses are made in a way that allows these segments to be assembled easily at any location later.
Mozahid, a local carpenter working on these houses, said, "We initially received training to build such a house. After seeing the design, I made a complete house. Now that the company and foreigners have seen and liked it, we have started working in full swing.
"If the weather remains favourable, it takes just a week to fully build one house. Nearly two hundred workers are involved in building these houses," he added.
Shariful Islam, another carpenter, said they had never built such houses before.
"Now, seeing how beautiful they have turned out, I couldn't have even imagined before that houses could be built this way entirely with wood," he added.
Carpenters involved in the making of these wooden houses are also delighted to be involved in exporting a local product to the European market for the first time.
Saiful, one of such carpenters, said, "The fact that the wooden houses we make are going abroad makes us proud. We are delighted to be able to make these houses."
However, to transport these houses abroad, Natural Fibres needs to first transport them to Chattogram port, which is some 450 kilometres away from the factory.
"If these residential houses made of local mahogany wood were exported through Mongla, it would save both time and money," said Md Moniruzzaman Molla Shahin, a consultant at Natural Fibre.
"We would like to ask the government to allow us to use Mongla port to ship these," he added.
Mongla is some 40 kilometres away from the factory where these houses are made.
Yunus A Rafi, an officer at the Bagerhat Industrial City of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation, said, "Such products going abroad will enhance our country's reputation. We are eager to assist entrepreneurs exporting local products to international markets."
From wooden bicycles to entire house
This is not the first time Natural Fibre has made headlines.
Back in February this year, they came to a discussion after making wooden bicycles and exporting them to Europe.
They have already exported 20,000 such bicycles to Greece as of February this year.
In addition to the wooden bicycles, the institution previously made sunbeds, hotel beds, and toys for dogs and cats, among other eco-friendly products.
