New Delhi: Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has informed that more than 2500 delegates from 32 countries participated in CTI-2019. Addressing a Press conference at the Global housing Technology Challenge Expo-cum-Conference event here today, he informed that Six cities have been identified to locate Lighthouse projects that will serve as “Live Laboratories”. These are 1. Rajkot (Gujarat) 2. Ranchi (Jharkhand) 3. Indore (Madhya Pradesh) 4. Chennai (Tamil Nadu) 5. Agartala (Tripura) & 6. Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh). He further informed that 54 Proven Technology Providers with 32 new technologies from 25 countries including technologies from USA, Finland, Australia, Spain, France, South Korea and Italy were evaluated by the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC). The technology adoption is expected to take place not only in the winning States, but also in other States/UTs. Other Missions in MoHUA and other Ministries having construction related work are also considering adoption of the modern and innovative technologies in display at CTI-2019. The ground-breaking of Lighthouse projects is targeted for June,2019 and ASHA-India will be working closely with the potential technology entities providing mentorship, training workshops and acceleration guidance to make them market-ready and scalable.
Shri Mishra informed that 78 Potential Technology Providers from across the country, with 55 post-prototype and 23 pre-prototype made their presentations to the expert jury that included presentations on Robotic Mobile Construction from Mumbai to 3D Printing in Construction from Bangalore, from Hempcrete construction system from Auroville to use of treated Bamboo for Low Cost Housing from Assam to presentations on Cast-in-situ – monolithic Domes/ Shells for various types of Habitat in Jammu & Kashmir. Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerator (ASHA – India) will support potential ideas/ products/ technologies identified by the expert jury and help it become Market-Ready.
The Construction Technology India (CTI) will be a biennial event. NAREDCO and CREDAI will be taking the lead with the support of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in hosting this event. This event will become a regular feature in the international event calendar for construction sector where the leading entities in this space across the world would be making their presence here.
The conference had four plenary sessions, six technical sessions including a World Cafe and three master classes. The topics discussed at the session included reforms to bring an Urban renaissance with an integrated approach to address Urban Challenges, Ensuring Liveability and desirability of Affordable Housing, Skills and Human resources in construction sector, enabling Eco-system for new construction technologies, innovations in construction equipment manufacturing sector, new technologies in construction beyond housing sector among others. Master classes for potential technology providers covered topics around Marketing Disruption, Certifications and Sustainability Matrix for construction.
The event was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi in the presence of Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Sh. Hardeep S Puri yesterday. GHTC – India is the outcome of the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister. He articulated his vision for Transformation in building the “New India” as a key driver in all Government activities. In his ad dress he highlighted the need for incorporating all Disaster-resilient features in future projects in both Public and Private Sector. Ministry is going to initiate a series of activities in this regard. Ministries of Central Government and State Government will be sensitised about the significance of incorporating the aspects brought out through the vulnerability atlas and getting them incorporated in all their contract conditions. Private sector organisations through CREDAI & NAREDCO etc. will be encouraged to adopt disaster resilient features in their projects. Dissemination workshops will be planned to various stakeholders in helping them understand the features of the vulnerability atlas. Initiatives will also be taken to get Third party agencies develop systems and mechanisms to assess this feature that will create better credibility in identifying and certifying these disaster-resilient features.
The Prime Minister declared the next year, April-2019 to March, 2020 as “Construction Technology Year”. A series of activities are being planned for implementation to use the activities initiated under this GHTC-India and pole-vault the construction sector to greater heights. Some of the activities planned will also leverage the National Knowledge Network (NKN) so that the young generation is familiarised with the technological advancements.
