Homes for poor: Government revises target

NEW DELHI: Against the original estimate of building 1.8 crore houses for urban poor by 2022, now government would need to construct about 1.2 crore houses.Housing ministry officials said the new target is based on a recent assessment carried out by the states. The earlier estimate was based on a 2012 projection. Housing and urban affairs secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said some of the states are still carrying out assessment and many of the households which did not have a house, have got a roof by now.

Mishra said now the target is to expedite construction and to achieve this government will bring in new technologies for faster and quality construction of houses. “Technologies are available across the world, which can bring down the construction period to as less as 90 days against the present time frame of 2-3 years,“ he added.

To make a beginning, the ministry announced a road map to build at least 6-8 projects in different parts of the country in the next 18 months using the best construction technology .

As per the plan, Centre will invite companies from across the world to showcase their construction techniques, and adopt the selected ones to build affor dable houses for poor.

Mishra said the ministry will conduct a affordable housing construction technology challenge and global players will get an opportunity to build houses at “minimum cost and in minimum duration“ by using local material and adhering to domestic building norms.

He said the technology provider will have to partner local firms, which can either be private or public, and they can form joint ventures. He added that the initiative will also attract private builders to participate.