PM to lay Foundation Stone of Light House Projects under GHTC-India 

PM to lay Foundation Stone of Light House Projects under GHTC-India 

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III –Infrastructure

In news 

• Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of Light House Projects (LHPs) under Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) at six sites across six States 
• 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 Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) Mission.
• 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. 

Key takeaways 

• 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 India 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
• They will be more economical, sustainable, of high quality and durability.

Important value additions 

Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators – India (ASHA-India) 

• It 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 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 Awas 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.