A JAPANESE engineer from the Kyoto University International Innovation Center returned to the university Feb. 21 for the launching and groundbreaking of a cheap and all-weather MMSU access road project using labor-based technology. 

Dr. Makoto Kimura, together with his Ph.D. student, engineer Yoshinori Fukubayashi, were here to formally put into effect a poverty alleviation strategy that can address accessibility problems in depressed areas.  MMSU has been chosen to be the first in the country to be benefited by this project costing one million yen. Kimura wanted to create a unique model in the university as a showcase for possible adoption by local officials and concerned agencies and institutions.

Dr. Kimura is Japan International Cooperation Agency’s coordinator for poverty alleviation in Asia and in Africa.  He came to the university in August 2006 to introduce the technology and to express his interest to tie-up with the university for a future road project using soil bags.

Soil bags, “donow” in Japanese, are commonly used for embankment raising during floods and as temporary structures during reconstruction after disasters.  Soil bags have been rarely applied to earth reinforcement because of the deterioration of bags after long exposure to sunlight, especially the plastic bags that are extremely vulnerable to ultraviolet rays. Nevertheless, there are advantages to using quality controlled soil bags as earth reinforcement.  According to the book “A new earth reinforcement method using soil bags” by Hajime Matsuoka of the Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan and Sihong Liu of the Hohai University in China, when a soil bag undergoes external force or building load, tensile force occurs along the bag, which in turn enhances the bearing capacity of the soil bag.

Matsuoka and Liu said that bags are cheap and easy to acquire and soil bags have almost the same weight as foundation soils.  The materials inside the soil bags, they said, can be various construction wastes such as crushed concrete, asphalt, and tile wastes; thus, the technology contributes greatly to recycling of waste materials.  Moreover, the technology does not require special construction equipment because the soil bags can be packed solely by human labor.  Furthermore, earth reinforcement using soil bags is also environmentally friendly because cement and chemical agents are avoided. Lastly, there is less noise and vibration during construction compared to the pile-driving method commonly used in soft/weak foundation reinforcement.

The book was written by the authors to stimulate a wider adoption of the method in earth reinforcement and civil engineering construction in other countries, especially in developing nations such as the Philippines as this is an effective and economical alternative for conventional earth reinforcement techniques.

Meanwhile, Kimura and Fukubayashi have introduced the method in Japan, Kenya, and Papua New Guinea.  This is the first time that this is introduced in the Philippines, particularly at MMSU.

The grant of 1M yen from Kimura will cover four phases of foot paths starting from CAS to the circumferential road going to the Main Library.  Upon construction, these foot paths will be very beneficial to the students as they will have less time traversing MMSU’s circumferential road that leads them to the main library, CETC, administration building, and CAF.

Speaking on behalf of Batac Mayor Jesus R. Nalupta Sr., Jeffrey C. Nalupta, secretary to the mayor, commended the efforts of Dr. Kimura and hoped that the project will be replicated in other areas of Batac.  He said the activity would serve as a building block for a more lasting partnership with Kyoto University, MMSU, and the Municipal Government of Batac.

President Miriam E. Pascua, on the other hand, expressed her gratitude for the support of students, faculty, and staff for the full implementation of the project.  She, likewise, appreciated Dr. Kimura for having chosen MMSU as the country’s pilot area for the project.  She further thanked Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis, international programs chief and “dou-no” project coordinator, for her efforts in helping bring the technology and the experts here in the Philippines, particularly at MMSU.  Agrupis worked with Kimura at the International Innovation Center of Kyoto University while she was there on an eight-month stint as visiting professor.