LAHORE – The floods which exposed one fifth of the Pakistan’s population to the elements, also motivated the youth to not to rely on the government and to put their heads together and resettle the unsettled. Building houses for the flood-hit-down-and-out humans remains always a challenge.
Countering this challenge, the first prototype of the mud brick compacting machine, ‘Bhatta Junior’, designed and developed in Pakistan, by a Pakistani and for the Pakistanis, has made its way to the arena. The machine makes mud bricks. Mud bricks make houses, which need to be build in the flood hit areas.
Bhatta Junior is created not only to fasten the process of rehabilitation but also make it easier and cost effective. Inspired by the original ‘bhatta’, but being a part of the 21 century, this machine can do much more than its mother concept. The man behind the idea and the concept of the machine is Hyder Ibrahim, a young and vibrant architect committed to help out the country from this difficult phase.
“You give a man a brick; you let him build his day. You teach a man how to make a brick; you teach him how to build his life,” is the idea behind Bhatta Junior. The product of Bhatta Junior is better and more suitable than the ordinary brick. It’s more cost effective, because no labour cost is required to produce bricks.
The brick is 90 percent clay soil, 8 percent straw and 2 percent sand soil. Only one-time machine cost is incurred, and the machine is handed over to the villagers to produce bricks without any external help. One machine requires only 3 people to operate. There are three simple steps in making the mud brick: mixing the mud, compressing it in the Bhatta Junior and line the bricks for drying.
Bhutta Junior produces a compressed mud block, stabilized with straw, and which could be dried in two days on the maximum. The machine by the help of simple hydraulics, compresses the mud into iron stencils, which shapes the mud and simultaneously squeezing the water out of the mud, making it easier to dry and use.
The product manufacturing is easier, cheaper, faster and durable, while the bricks are suitable for building houses. The cost of a regular brick is around eight rupees, while this brick costs only 30 paisa. The machine produces 8 bricks per cycle as it has 8 slots.
The machine is currently being used successfully in the suburbs of Muzzafargarh District, houses are being built walls are being erected and the process of rehabilitation in rapidly progressing.
A BUILDING BLOCK – Bhatta Junior to the rescue
