New Delhi: The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, addressed the Construction Technology India Event, 2019 event at Vigyan Bhavan today. The Prime Minister emphasized the commitment of the Union Government towards ensuring that every family’s dream of a home, becomes a reality and said that the need for the Global Housing Technology Challenge, was felt in the light of rapid urbanization in India. He said that elements from several schemes, including PM Awas Yojana, HRIDAY and AMRUT, are oriented towards transforming the housing sector. He said that adapting technology to different geographical conditions is also a challenge.
The Prime Minister said a lot of emphasis has been placed on affordable housing, real estate sector, skill development, and housing technology. He reiterated his dream that every Indian should have a proper house by 2022, and 1.3 crore houses have been made in his tenure. He called upon everyone to work together to enhance capacities and help the poor.
The Prime Minister said that the Government is also making it easier for people to buy houses, through tax and other incentives. He said the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, (RERA), has improved consumers’ confidence in developers and brought transparency in the Real Estate Sector. He said a large pool of skilled human resource has been created, especially in the rural areas. He said that in the construction sector, there is now much greater focus on disaster-resilience, energy efficiency, and local innovation.
The Prime Minister said that the Global Housing Technology Challenge is a platform that can help elevate India’s construction ecosystem to international standards. He declared that the period from April 2019 to March 2020, will be observed as the Construction Technology Year.
Shri Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State(I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs, Shri DurgaShanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA, officials from State Governments and representatives from industry associations were also present at the function. During the event, the Prime Minister launched the GHTC-India mobile application, an interactive platform for all the stakeholders for facilitating exchange of knowledge on innovation and alternative housing technologies. He also launched the 3rd Edition of the Vulnerability Atlas of India, a collation of the existing hazard scenario for the entire country.
During his address, Shri Hardeep S Puri, stated that “Indian cities, which will contribute over 80% to GDP by 2050, need to be receptive, innovative and productive to foster sustainable growth and ensure a better quality of living. Global Housing Technology Challenge – India (GHTC – India) essentially provides an opportunity, under which leaders of innovative technologies from across the globe, across the diverse aspects of the construction sector spectrum, to come and participate in this grand transformation that India is going experience, he added. “From Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs we are not looking at this challenge as only a PMAY initiative, but an initiative that can have a huge impact in each of our flagship initiatives. We are looking at innovations to make our cities smarter, we are looking at construction technologies that can help us develop better civic infrastructure, we are looking at innovations that can make our waste management transformative, we are looking at ideas that will help us build better road and trunk infrastructure, we are looking at efficient and sustainable conservation methods of our buildings and of course we are also looking at this challenge that will help us get the millions of houses built in a faster, cost-effective and sustainable manner”, he further said.
Providing details of the progress made in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana(Urban), the Housing Minister stated that “Pursuing a validated housing demand of about 10 million (1 Crore), PMAY (Urban) mission has already sanctioned 7.9 million (79 lakh) houses, grounded 4.1 million (41 lakh) and completed 1.6 million (16 lakh). Looking at the scale of construction that needs to take place in the next 3 years it becomes absolutely imperative that we get the technology right. Rapid urbanization as an outcome of this sustained growth has resulted in the increase of the urban population in the country. This will exponentially increase the demand for basic services and housing in cities. Thereby it is important for us to adopt an integrated approach to provide a conducive and productive environment with better living conditions to every household in urban India.
While welcoming the Prime Minister and participants, Shri DurgaShanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA stated that “It was Hon’ble PM’s vision that by 2022, every Indian will get a house. To make that possible, GHTC was conceived to pole vault into the new age of construction technology.”
