MoHUA challenges States to select sites for constructing Lighthouse projects

The winning six States/ UTs that score the highest marks across the prescribed criteria will be awarded lighthouse projects.

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has instituted a challenge for States/ UTs to select six sites across the country for constructing the Lighthouse projects under GHTC-India.   MoHUA encourages all States/ UTs to participate in this challenge proactively. The winning six States/ UTs that score the highest marks across the prescribed criteria will be awarded lighthouse projects. The States/ UTs will receive Central Assistance to construct these projects as per PMAY (U) guidelines. In addition to this, a Technology Innovation Grant (TIG) for the States/ UTs is provisioned to offset the impact of any additional cost implication due to the use of new technology and to absorb the issues related to economies of scale and other related factors. The selected sites for lighthouse projects will be used as an ‘open laboratory’ for a live demonstration and will receive due attention from academia (Civil Engineering, Planning, Architecture), practitioners (Public/ Private), policymakers (Central/ State) and media apart from felicitation/ recognition in Grand Expo-cum-Conference.

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has already launched a “Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC- India)”. The challenge has three components viz. i) Conduct of Grand Expo-cum-Conference, ii) Identifying Proven Demonstrable Technologies from across the globe and iii) Promoting Potential Technologies through the establishment of Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators- India (ASHA-I) for incubation and accelerator support. Out of the three, the second component intends to identify and pilot ‘Proven Demonstrable Technologies’ from around the world in actual housing projects in different parts of the country. The shortlisted global technology providers will be invited to plan and construct lighthouse projects within the framework of PMAY (U) on pre-selected sites provided by States/UTs across six identified PMAY.

The last date for participation by the States/UTs is 20th February’19. The States / UTs may send their applications in the prescribed format at the earliest and latest by 20th February 2019. The Selected States/ UTs will enter into a Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) with MoHUA to execute these Lighthouse projects in their States/ UTs under GHTC-India.

The States / UTs have also been apprised about this challenge through Video Conferencing Chaired by JS & MD, Housing for All, Shri Amrit Abhijat. He mentioned that the Ministry will also be doing Technology Meets during the Construction year. This will encourage the potential beneficiary to visit the sites to see the ongoing work for adaptation. The States/UTs have given an enthusiastic response and are participating in this unique Challenge with zeal.

(With Inputs from PIB)