The Central Material Testing Laboratory (CMTL) was established in 1972 as an integral part of the Institute of Engineering (IOE), Tribhuvan University which was then the only institution to provide the engineering education in Nepal. CMTL was initially set up to meet the requirements of the engineering education curriculum. Since 1976, owing to the country’s increasing activity in the construction sector, it was decided that the CMTL should expand its scope of services by facility testing of buildings and highway materials and catering soil investigation works for the various government and privately owned projects. Since then, the CMTL has been involved in various government and privately owned projects covering a wide variety of civil engineering projects, such as airports, hydropower, highways, irrigation, factories and buildings. This service is ongoing and the CMTL through the years has gained an excellent reputation in the construction industry in Nepal.