On January 1, 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation of six Light House Projects (LHPs) in Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
- These will be developed as a part of the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) initiative under which 1,000 houses at each location are to be constructed in a year (12 months), using six distinct technologies.
- GHTC-India aims to adopt innovative technologies in the housing construction sector.
- Other government schemes will also be linked to these projects to provide facilities such as water supply, electricity and LPG connection to the beneficiaries.
About Light House Projects:
–The LHPs will showcase the best use of new-age alternate global technologies, processes and materials in the construction sector at such a large scale for the first time in the country.
–These houses will be more economical, sustainable, durable and of high quality in comparison to the conventional brick and mortar construction.
Technologies to be used:
- Indore: Prefabricated sandwich panel system technology would be used
- Rajkot: Tunnelling, monolithic concrete construction system from France
- Chennai: Precast concrete technology from the United States (US) and Finland
- Ranchi: 3-D technology from Germany
- Agartala: Steel-frame technology would be used for constructing earthquake resistant houses
- Lucknow: Pre-constructed wall technology from Canada
–PM Modi Announced annual awards for excellence in implementation of (PMAY-U) Mission
The PM gave away annual “Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Awards-2019” for excellence in six categories for the implementation of PMAY-U.The PMAY(U) awards were instituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 2019.
| Category | Awardee |
|---|---|
| Best Practices and Innovation Awards | Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu |
| Best Performing State | Uttar Pradesh (UP) followed by Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Andhra Pradesh (AP) |
| Best Performance (North East Region and Hilly State) | Tripura
|
| Best Performing Municipal Corporation | Visakhapatnam, AP |
| Best Performing Municipal Corporation (North East Region and Hilly State) | Agartala, Tripura |
| Best Performing Municipal Council | Mirzapur, UP |
| Best Performing Municipal Council (North East Region and Hilly State) | Thoubal, Manipur
|
| Best Performing Nagar Panchayat | Malihabad, UP
|
| Best Performing Nagar Panchayat (North East Region and Hilly State) | Dineshpur, Uttarakhand
|
Key Special Category Awards:
- Best Performing UT (Union Territory)– Puducherry
- Project Monitoring Tools– AP
- Policy Initiatives– Gujarat
- Innovative Construction Technology– AP
- Best AHP on Private Land -Gujarat
- Best ISSR Project -Gujarat
- Best AHP on Public Land- Madhya Pradesh
- Community Mobilisation initiatives- Jharkhand
- Convergence -Chhattisgarh
Other Launches by PM:
–Five incubation centers set up under affordable sustainable housing accelerators – India (Asha-India) initiative launched under PMAY(U).
–‘NAVARITIH’ (New, Affordable, Validated, Research Innovation Technologies for Indian Housing) – certificate Course on innovative construction technologies was also released.
–A Compendium of 54 innovative housing construction technologies which were identified through GHTC-India was released.
Additional info:
–Under PMAY-Urban scheme, 1.09 crore houses had been sanctioned against the demand of 1.12 crore houses, 40 lakh houses handed over to beneficiaries, and 70 lakh more houses were under construction.
–The year 2019-20 was declared as the ‘Construction Technology Year’.
Recent Related News:
i.Over the next 5 years (NIP Plan Period) i.e. by 2025, the debt platform is expected to raise enough resources to support the construction of infrastructure projects worth Rs.100,000 crore.
ii.Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has emerged as the lowest bidder with Rs.3166 crores for the construction of the 20 kilometer(km) 4 lane road bridge across River Brahmaputra connecting Dhubri of Assam to Phulbair of Meghalaya on National Highway(NH) 127B. This will be India’s longest Bridge over a River in the northeast.
About Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA):
Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge) – Hardeep Singh Puri
List of Schemes under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs – Smart Cities Mission, Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Urban Transport, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).
