InnoCSR, a South Korean material technology company and member of the Born2Global Centre, has introduced its soil stabilised road technology – Good Road System (GRS) – in Nepal. This technology follows the success of the Good Bricks System, where InnoCSR’s soil stabilisers are used to make non-fired bricks.

Good Soil Stabiliser, developed by InnoCSR, is a specialty chemical that enables binding between soil and cement to reach the required strength and quality for road construction. The GRS system, a sub-pavement laying technology using Good Soil Stabiliser, reduces costs of road construction by 10-20% since it does not use aggregates, explained InnoCSR. It is also quick, as the whole process of sub-pavement construction can be completed in one to two days, after which it is ready for vehicles and people to use the road.

InnoCSR has recently completed two sample sections of road — a 70-m section in Bhaktapur and a 65-m section in Kapilvastu — where local residents are said to have praised the speed and quality of construction. The company targets rural earth roads in hilly areas where the government needs fast construction of durable roads.

InnoCSR further highlighted that, according to the data provided by Nepal’s Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads (DOLIDAR), the nation needs approximately 40,000 km of earthen roads in Province 1, 3 & 4 to be upgraded. The existing overall road network needs improvement, as well as new roads to meet Nepal’s transportation needs.

Yoonsuk Lee, CEO of InnoCSR, said, “The existing road network in Nepal is heavily underutilised—74.3% of roads in Nepal is still earthen roads with lots of quality issues and this should be improved fast. GRS system can be a good solution compared with the traditional or concrete road as it is more cost effective, easy to construct and fast. To address these issues and bring economic development to remote rural parts of Nepal, we propose to build good roads using our Good Road System (GRS)."