1-Jan-2021: PM lays foundation stone of Light House projects (LHPs) across six states
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Light House projects (LHPs) under Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC)- at six sites across six States, today through video conference. He announced the winners under Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators - India (ASHA-India) and gave away annual awards for excellence in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) Mission. He also released a certification course on innovative construction technologies named NAVARITIH (New, Affordable, Validated, Research Innovation Technologies for Indian Housing). Union Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said today is the day to move forward with new energy, to prove new resolutions and today the country is getting new technology to build houses for the poor, middle class. He said the houses are called light house projects in technical language but these 6 projects are really like lighthouses showing a new direction to the housing sector in the country.
The Prime Minister cited these light house projects as an example of the approach of the present Government. He said at one time housing schemes were not as much as the priority of the central government and did not go into the nuances and quality of home construction. Today, the country has chosen a different approach, adopting a different route and a better technology, to complete the projects faster. He stressed on the importance for the Government ministries not to have large and sluggish structures, but to be fit like startups. He expressed happiness on the active participation of more than 50 Innovative Construction Companies from around the world. He said this global challenge has given us a scope to innovate and incubate with new technology.
The Prime Minister said in the next phase of the same process, the work of 6 light house projects at different sites is starting from today. These light house projects will be made up of modern technology and innovative processes and reduce the construction time and make a more resilient, affordable and comfortable house for the poor. He further explained that these light houses have innovations in construction technology. For example the project in Indore will not have brick and mortar walls, instead they will use the prefabricated Sandwich Panel system. The light houses in Rajkot will be built using French technology and have monolithic concrete construction technology using tunnel and the house will be more capable of withstanding disasters. In Chennai, US and Finland technologies will use the Precast Concrete system, which will construct the house faster and cheaper. In Ranchi houses will be built using Germany's 3D construction system. Each room will be made separately and then the entire structure will be added in the same way as Lego Blocks toys. He said Houses are being built in Agartala with the steel frames using New Zealand's technology which can withstand major earthquake risk. Canada's technology is being used in Lucknow, which will not require plaster and paint and will use the entire walls already prepared to build houses faster. He further said that thousands of houses will be built in 12 months at every location which will act as incubation centers through which our planners, architects, engineers and students will be able to learn and experiment with new technology. He announced that along with this, a certificate course will be started to upgrade the skills related to new technology to the people in the construction sector, so that the people can get the best technology and material in the world in house construction.
The Prime Minister remarked that the ASHA-India program is being run to promote research and startups related to modern housing technology within the country. Through this, new and affordable technology for building 21st century houses will be developed in India itself. He said Five best techniques have also been selected under this campaign. He said that the biggest dream of poor or middle class people living in the city is owning their house. But over the years, people were losing their trust in their house. He said even after earning the trust, the demand has gone down due to high prices. People have lost trust whether they would have legal standing in case of any issue. High interest rates of the bank and the difficulties in getting loans, have further dampened the interest on owning a house. He expressed satisfaction on the efforts taken in the last 6 years to restore the confidence of a common man that he too can have his own house. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, lakhs of houses have been built in a very short time in cities.
The Prime Minister said that in PM Awaas Yojna construction's focus is both on innovation and implementation as per the local needs and expectations of the home-owners. It is a complete package as every unit is equipped with electricity-water-gas connection. Transparency is being ensured through the technologies like geo-tagging and Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the beneficiaries.
Talking about the benefits for the middle classes, Shri Modi said they are getting rebates on home loan interest. A special fund of Rs 25 thousand crore, created for incomplete housing projects, will also help the middle class. Measures like RERA have brought back the trust of the home owners and given them confidence that they will not be cheated out of their hard earned money. There are 60 thousand projects registered under RERA and thousands of grievances have been redressed under the law.
The Prime Minister said that getting the key of a house is not just getting possession of a dwelling unit but it opens doors of dignity, confidence, safe future, new identity and expanding possibilities. All round work that is being done for ‘Housing for All’ is bringing positive change in the lives of crores of poor and middle class families.
The Prime Minister also mention new scheme that was taken up during the Corona pandemic i.e. Affordable Renting Housing Complex Schemes. Government is working with industry and other investors to provide housing with fair rents to the workers who come to work from various states to different states. Their housing conditions are often unhygienic and undignified. Effort is to provide them fair rent dwellings in the vicinity of their workplace. This is our responsibility that our worker friends should live with dignity, Shri Modi added.
The Prime Minister also recounted the measures taken recently to help the real estate sector. Measures like reduction of tax on cheap houses from 8 to 1 percent, GST reduction from 12 to 5 per cent, recognizing the sector as infrastructure for making it eligible for cheap loans have taken our ranking for construction permit from 185 to 27. Procedure for construction permissions have been taken online in more than 2000 towns, the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister also informed that more than 2 crore housing units have been constructed in rural India. Effort will be on to accelerate the speed of rural housing this year.
30-Dec-2020: PM to lay Foundation Stone of Light House Projects under GHTC-India on 1st January
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Light House Projects (LHPs) under Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) at six sites across six States on 1st January 2021 at 11 AM via video conferencing. Prime Minister will also announce winners under Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators - India (ASHA-India) and give out annual awards for excellence in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) Mission.
During the event, the Prime Minister will also release a certificate course on innovative construction technologies named NAVARITIH (New, Affordable, Validated, Research Innovation Technologies for Indian Housing) and a compendium of 54 innovative housing construction technologies identified through GHTC-India. Union MoS (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs, along with Chief Ministers of Tripura, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh will be present on the occasion.
Light House Projects
The Light House Projects (LHPs) showcase the best of new-age alternate global technologies, materials and processes in the construction sector for the first time in the country at such a large scale. They are being constructed under GHTC-India which envisages to provide an ecosystem for adoption of innovative technologies in the housing construction sector in a holistic manner. The LHPs are being constructed at Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh). They comprise about 1000 houses at each location along with allied infrastructure facilities. These projects will demonstrate and deliver ready to live houses at an expedited pace within twelve months, as compared to conventional brick and mortar construction, and will be more economical, sustainable, of high quality and durability.
These LHPs demonstrate a variety of technologies, including Prefabricated Sandwich Panel System in LHP at Indore, Monolithic Concrete Construction using Tunnel Formwork in LHP at Rajkot, Precast Concrete Construction System in LHP at Chennai, 3D Volumetric Precast Concrete Construction System in LHP at Ranchi, Structural Steel Frame with Light Gauge Steel Infill Panels in LHP at Agartala and PVC Stay In Place Formwork System in LHP at Lucknow. The LHPs will serve as live laboratories for facilitating transfer of technology to the field and its further replication. This includes planning, design, production of components, construction practices and testing for both faculty and students of IITs, NITs, other Engineering colleges, Planning and Architecture colleges, builders, professionals of private and public sectors and other stakeholders.
ASHA-India
Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators - India (ASHA-India) aims to promote domestic research and entrepreneurship by providing incubation and acceleration support to potential future technologies. Under ASHA-India initiative, five ASHA-India Centers have been set up for providing incubation and acceleration support. The potential technology winners under acceleration support will be announced by the Prime Minister. The technologies, processes and materials identified through this initiative will provide a major fillip to young creative minds, start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs.
PMAY-U Mission
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) Mission has been designed to achieve the vision of “Housing For All by 2022”. In order to recognize the outstanding contribution by States, UTs, Urban Local Bodies and beneficiaries, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has introduced annual awards for excellence in implementation of PMAY-Urban. The winners of PMAY(Urban) Awards-2019 will be felicitated during the event.
11-Feb-2019: “Light House Projects challenge” launched.
The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has instituted a challenge for States/ UTs to select six sites across the country for constructing the Lighthouse projects under GHTC-India. MoHUA encourages all States/ UTs to participate in this challenge proactively. The winning six States/ UTs that score the highest marks across the prescribed criteria will be awarded lighthouse projects. The States/ UTs will receive Central Assistance to construct these projects as per PMAY (U) guidelines. In addition to this, a Technology Innovation Grant (TIG) for the States/ UTs is provisioned to offset the impact of any additional cost implication due to the use of new technology and to absorb the issues related to economies of scale and other related factors. The selected sites for lighthouse projects will be used as an ‘open laboratory’ for live demonstration and will receive due attention from academia (Civil Engineering, Planning, Architecture), practitioners (Public/ Private), policy makers (Central/ State) and media apart from felicitation/ recognition in Grand Expo-cum-Conference.
The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has already launched a “Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC- India)”. The challenge has three components viz. i) Conduct of Grand Expo-cum-Conference, ii) Identifying Proven Demonstrable Technologies from across the globe and iii) Promoting Potential Technologies through the establishment of Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators- India (ASHA-I) for incubation and accelerator support. Out of the three, the second component intends to identify and pilot ‘Proven Demonstrable Technologies’ from around the world in actual housing projects in different parts of the country. The shortlisted global technology providers will be invited to plan and construct light house projects within the framework of PMAY (U) on pre-selected sites provided by States/UTs across six identified PMAY.
The last date for participation by the States/UTs is 20th February’19. The States / UTs may send their applications in the prescribed format at the earliest and latest by 20th February 2019.The Selected States/ UTs will enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) with MoHUA to execute these Light house projects in their States/ UTs under GHTC-India.