Innovation needed in Low Cost Materials & Technologies: Hardeep Puri

Jan 04,2018

Shri Hardeep Puri, Minister of State(I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs has stressed on the need for innovation in low cost materials and technologies for the poor.  Delivering the keynote address at the Global Housing Construction Technology Challenge(GHCTC) – Design Workshop here today, he mentioned about the great work done by several research organizations for easier and cheaper materials like stabilized mud-blocks, bamboo, waste-recycled, etc. and innovative construction employed for disaster relief, re-used elements, traditional techniques and local resources and hoped that this could include not just PMAY(U), but also the large rural component and several urgent and transitory needs of urban housing.

GHCTC is a 2-day Workshop organized by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs on 4th & 5th January, 2018.  Bloomberg Philanthropies, World Resources Institute(WRI) India, senior professors from the US, officials from various State Governments, and other stakeholders are participating in the Workshop.  Shri Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs while addressing the participants informed about the entire process involved in the Global Housing Construction Technology Challenge and expressed confidence that the Workshop would provide a platform for discussing key issues involved in the process. 

Addressing the participants at the conference, Sh Puri stated that the challenge lies for those designing the competition. The GHCTC has to be inviting to all, with clear benefits, and yet scrupulous in its adherence to transparency, accountability, and quality. Only if the Challenge is successful in letter of competition and spirit of meeting the outcomes, would it be worthy of the vision of the PM. “I can see this challenge inviting innovation in not just Construction technology (processes of putting the materials together as a building), but also related aspects, such as:

Material technology (science of developing new / improving existing building materials)
Structural systems (science of transferring loads and countering external forces)
Building services (the amenities lifelines that enable habitation)
Building physics (performance of the buildings after construction)
 
There could also be innovation in resource management (including land, labour, capital, machinery, etc.), Project management and material & labour resource logistics, Site services & infrastructure planning (for and after construction) and Overall value-chain enhancement management of the construction process, he further said.

The Sessions will include: Principles of Challenge Prize Design, Problem Definition and Competition Goals, Round Table with key industry stakeholders, Implementation Issues, Support Needed for Competition and Post-competition activities, risks and mitigation among others.