Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate ‘Indian Urban Housing Conclave-2022’ (IUHC2022) a three-day event being organised by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India from 19-21 October 2022 at Rajkot, Gujarat. Hon’ble Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs; and Petroleum and Natural Gas, Shri Hardeep S Puri, Hon’ble Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore and other dignitaries from Centre and States will also grace the occasion. Apart from PMAY-U, other Urban Missions viz. Swachh Bharat Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart Cities Mission, Urban Transport, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM), SVANidhi etc. being implemented by MoHUA will participate in the event.

‘Indian Urban Housing Conclave’ will provide a platform to all stakeholders to demonstrate their technologies as well as deliberate upon various options of technologies, materials and processes for large scale adoption and mainstreaming in different type of housing construction suitable for different Geo-climatic regions of the country.  It will create enabling eco-system for further adoption by Public/Private Agencies, R&D and Technical Institutions, Construction Agencies, Developers, Contractors, Start-ups and other stakeholders. Further, beneficiaries (house owners) will have access to innovative, rapid and cost-effective construction technologies and materials for use. It will also help devising strategies, action plan and roadmap for achieving the vision of “Future Ready Urban India” focussed on urban housing during the ‘Amrit Kaal’.

The event will be organised in physical as well as virtual mode with webcasting and live streaming. The event consists of following components:

1. Inauguration of Light House Project (LHP) Rajkot, Gujarat: The LHP at Rajkot, is one of the 6 LHPS being constructed by MoHUA in 6 States using globally proven innovative construction technologies. The LHP Rajkot is complete in all respect. In this project, ‘Monolithic Concrete Construction using Tunnel Formwork’, a global innovative technology from France has been used for construction of 1,144 houses which ensures rapid construction, durability, low maintenance and is resource-efficient and disaster-resilient. The LHP Rajkot will be inaugurated and handed over to the beneficiaries by the Hon’ble Prime Minister during the event. In addition, various publications, compendiums, books will be released.
2. National Exhibition on Innovative construction practices: An exhibition on Innovative building materials, construction technologies & processes will be set up where global and domestic exhibitors will showcase the prototype models on new and innovative construction technologies/materials. Technology providers from across the globe, domestic indigenous technologies, potential future technologies (start-ups) from the country have been invited through a simple online screening process. A Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) constituted for GHTC-India will evaluate and assess their suitability in Indian context. More than 200 technology providers are expected to showcase their products.
3. Exhibition on best practices adopted by States/UTs under PMAY-U including Gujarat: The PMAY-U Mission promotes cooperative federalism. The States/UTs have innovated their implementation structure as per the local context such as adopting innovative construction practices, convergence of PMAY-U with other housing schemes, livelihood programs, providing housing to special groups, etc. The exhibition aims to showcase such efforts of States/UTs including Gujarat in the successful implementation of PMAY-U along with the achievements of urban missions and their roadmap/action plan for driving the economic growth, transforming lives of people and improving ‘ease of living’.
4. Deliberations on Affordable Housing Discourses: Various dialogues, thematic sessions, roundtable discussions will be conducted with stakeholders consisting of national and international experts to discuss, share and learn the progress in transforming urban landscape to take resolve for future urban development in improving ‘Ease of Living’. It will also be participated by MoHUA/State/UT officials, academia, civil society organisations and other stakeholders.
5. Felicitation of PMAY(U) Awards 2021: In order to recognize the outstanding contribution by States, UTs and ULBs, MoHUA has introduced annual awards for excellence in implementation of PMAY(U). The winners for PMAY(U) Awards 2021 have been identified and will be felicitated during the event.

MoHUA has been implementing PMAY-U since June 2015 for providing all-weather pucca houses with all basic amenities for all eligible families/ beneficiaries in urban areas of the country. A total of 122.69 lakh houses have been sanctioned under the Scheme; out of which nearly 105 lakh have been grounded for construction and more than 63 lakh have been completed and delivered to the beneficiaries. The Scheme has been extended up to 31^st December 2024 to complete all houses sanctioned till 31^st March 2022. Within the ambit of the overarching PMAY-U, a Technology Sub-Mission (TSM) has been set up, to facilitate the adoption of innovative, sustainable, eco-friendly and disaster-resilient technologies and building materials for cost effective, speedier and quality construction of houses.

For promoting new and innovative construction technologies and systems, Global Housing Technology Challenge- India (GHTC-India) was initiated in January 2019 with an aim to identify and mainstream globally best available proven construction technologies that are sustainable, green and disaster resilient through a challenge format to bring technology transition in construction sector. Under GHTC-India, a ‘Construction Technology India (CTI) – 2019: Expo-cum-Conference’ was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 2^nd March 2019 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Six distinct technologies were selected amongst 54 shortlisted globally best technologies that participated in GHTC-India for constructing six Light House Projects (LHPs) at Indore, Rajkot, Chennai, Ranchi, Agartala and Lucknow. The foundation stone of all 6 LHPs was laid by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 01.01.2021. Out of the 6 LHPs, LHP Chennai was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 26^th May 2022. LHP Rajkot is ready for inauguration. The other four LHPs are at advance stages of construction.

In addition, an ‘Indian Housing Technology Mela’ (IHTM) was organised on 5^th October, 2021 in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh to promote indigenous alternate/sustainable building materials and innovative construction systems/ technologies for low & mid-rise structures for affordable housing in the country. IHTM was inaugurated by Hon’ble Prime Minister. Under IHTM, 84 indigenous innovative technologies, materials and processes were shortlisted.

‘Indian Urban Housing Conclave’ will help in widening the horizon and bringing technology transition in the construction sector for sustainable development. It will also bring together all global and indigenous innovative technologies, materials and process shortlisted under GHTC-India as well as under IHTM including those developed subsequently by various stakeholders across the world and showcase them on a common platform.

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RKJ/M