Global Housing Technology Challenge-India | 02 Jan 2021
Why in News
The Prime Minister has laid the foundation of LightHouse Projects (LHPs), as part of the Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) initiative, at six sites across six states via videoconference.
- He also announced the winners under Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators - India (ASHA-India) and gave away annual awards for excellence in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas 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).
Key Points
- Global Housing Technology Challenge-India:
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has conceptualized a Global Housing Technology Challenge - India (GHTC- India) which aims to identify and mainstream a basket of innovative technologies from across the globe for the housing construction sector that are sustainable, eco-friendly and disaster-resilient.
- The Prime Minister declared the year 2019-20 as ‘Construction Technology Year’ while inaugurating GHTC-India in March 2019.
- 3 Components of GHTC-India:
- Grand Expo and Conference: It is organized biennially to provide a platform to all stakeholders associated with housing construction for the exchange of knowledge and business.
- Proven Demonstrable Technologies for the Construction of Lighthouse Projects: These projects demonstrate the merits of the selected technologies and serve as live laboratories for research, testing, technology transfer, increasing mass awareness and for mainstreaming them in the country.
- The funding for the LHPs is as per the guidelines of PMAY-U.
- Potential Future Technologies for Incubation and Acceleration Support: Potential future technologies from India that are applicable to the housing sector will be supported and encouraged through the ASHA (Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators) India program.
- LightHouse Projects at Six Sites:
- Six LHPs consisting of about 1,000 houses each with physical & social infrastructure facilities are being constructed at six places across the country namely Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
- These projects will showcase the use of the six distinct shortlisted innovative technologies for field level application, learning and replication.
- LHPs will demonstrate and deliver ready to live mass housing at an expedited pace as compared to conventional brick and mortar construction and will be more economical, sustainable, of high quality and durability.
- Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerator – India (ASHA India):
- The aim of ASHA-India is to catalyse research and development in the housing construction sector, building materials and related products by providing a suitable platform to promote and showcase India’s vibrant and dynamic community of innovators.
- It will support the potential future technologies developed in India by the way of incubation and acceleration.
- Incubation and acceleration support is provided to potential future technologies that are not yet market ready (pre-prototype applicants) or to the technologies that are market ready (post prototype applicants) respectively.