Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the groundwork for six Light House projects, as part of the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) initiative, in Indore, Rajkot, Chennai, Ranchi, Agartala and Lucknow via videoconference on Friday.
Around 1,000 houses will be built at each location in one year, using six different technologies from a basket of 54 of these technologies shortlisted at GHTC-India, 2019.
Addressing the respective chief ministers, governors and other officials, the prime minister said the country was getting new technologies to provide durable, affordable and comfortable housing for the poor and the middle class. The cooperation provided by the states in the projects was in some way strengthening cooperative federalism, he said.
Call to planners, students
The GHTC provided the scope to incubate new technologies for construction and innovate, pointed out and convened planners, architects and students from various universities and institutions to visit the sites, learn from the technologies and shape them for use according to local requirements.
In Indore, precast sandwich panel system technology would be used, while in Rajkot, through tunnels, a monolithic concrete construction system from France was employed. Precast concrete technology from the United States and Finland would be used for affordable housing construction in Chennai, and in Ranchi, the project would be implemented through Germany’s 3-D technology, he said.
In Agartala, steel frame technology would be used to build earthquake resistant houses and pre-built wall technology from Canada would be used in Lucknow. Other government schemes would also be linked to these projects to provide facilities such as water supply, electricity and LPG connection to the beneficiaries.
Benefit for the middle class
Modi said the middle class was benefiting today from relaxed interest rates on home loans. The new Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA) had given them protection. Around 60,000 projects were registered and a large number of complaints had been dealt with in accordance with the law.
A series of measures were also taken to promote the real estate sector, which had now been granted “infrastructure” status to facilitate the availability of credit facilities. Taxes on regular and affordable homes have been significantly lowered to encourage buyers.
During the COVID-19 outbreak last year, another major initiative, the Central Rental Housing Complex project, was conceived with the goal of addressing the issues facing migrant workers. The project was being carried out in coordination with industrialists and other investors.
Excellence Awards
The Prime Minister presented annual awards of excellence in six categories for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-Urban). A total of 88 beneficiaries from across the country were congratulated. A compendium of 54 innovative home building technologies identified through GHTC-India was also published.
The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, said that under the PMAY-Urban plan, 1.09 crore of houses had been sanctioned against the demand of 1.12 crore of houses, 40 lakh of houses handed over to beneficiaries and 70 lakh more houses under construction.
Five incubation centers, established under the Sustainable Affordable Housing Accelerators-India initiative, were launched during the event to identify innovative materials, processes and technology for sustainable, disaster resistant and resource efficient construction. A certified course called “Navaritih” on innovative building technologies was also introduced.
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