Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday virtually laid the foundation stone of Light House Projects (LHP) under the Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC) -India.
Conceptualised by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the project aims to identify and mainstream several innovative technologies from across the world which are sustainable and disaster-resilient.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said “today is the day to move forward with new energy and to prove new resolutions. The houses are called light house projects in technical language but these 6 projects are really like lighthouses showing a new direction to the housing sector in the country making it affordable for the poor and middle class. ”
Earlier, housing projects were not given priority by Central governments and that the governments were not concerned about the quality of housing infrastructure. “Today, the country has taken a different approach. We have decided to change the approach towards housing. Why should the country not get better technology?” PM Modi remarked.
The Prime Minister said “getting the key of a house is not just getting possession of a dwelling unit but it opens doors of dignity, confidence, safe future, new identity and expanding possibilities. All-round work that is being done for ‘Housing for All’ is bringing positive change in the lives of crores of poor and middle class families.”
He also spoke about the technologies that will be used at the six locations: Agartala, Lucknow, Indore, Rajkot, Chennai and Ranchi. The ones in Indore will not have walls made of bricks; pre-fabricated sandwich panel system will be used for these, he said. For Rajkot, the French “monolithic concrete construction” technology will be used, he added.
Precast concrete system from the United States and Finland will be used in Chennai, while in Ranchi, Germany’s 3-D construction system will be used, PM Modi added. New Zealand’s steel frame technology will be used in Agartala and a technology from Canada will be used in Lucknow, he further said.
Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, and chief ministers of Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand also addressed the gathering on Friday.
