ABSTRACT
This chapter examines four intermediate technologies in construction materials: lime production in Malawi, cement making in India, the production of bricks in Botswana, and the development of a new building product that looks like an old one - fibre-reinforced concrete roofing tiles. In nineteenth century Europe, cement was manufactured in vertical shaft kilns very similar to the lime kiln developed in Malawi. With a population roughly one-tenth of one per cent of India's and a completely different resource base, Botswana's approach to development necessarily differ greatly from India's. The story of fibre concrete roofing (FCR) is fascinating in both its simplicity and its complexity. Because the technology was relatively simple; because the capital investment required to set up a small plant was low; and because there is an almost insatiable demand in the Third World for inexpensive, durable roofing material, the FCR technology, once adequately tested and developed, began to take off at great speed.
