Hardeep S. Puri Calls for Integration of Sustainability and Climate Resilience Throughout the Built Environment Lifecycle

Hardeep S. Puri, Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas stressed the need to view urban planning from the perspective of embedding sustainability and climate resilience across the lifecycle of the built environment.

Inaugurating the Conference on Adoption of New and Emerging Building Materials and Technologies in the Construction Industry, the Minister said that the Modi government has viewed urbanization as an opportunity for multifaceted growth and therefore India boasts one of the most comprehensive programmes for planned urbanization.

It is against this backdrop, that the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U), the flagship housing scheme of the Ministry, gains particular significance as it has addressed the issue of affordable housing for India’s urban poor while creating sustainable and green infrastructure.

Highlighting the use of green construction technologies in PMAY-U, Puri informed the gathering that about 43.3 lakh houses are being constructed under the mission using sustainable building materials such as fly ash bricks/blocks and AAC blocks. These houses will contribute to a reduction of 9 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by the end of December 2024.

To bring a paradigm shift in the housing construction sector, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) shortlisted 54 innovative construction technologies from all over the world, under the Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC).

Further, 6,368 houses are being built under six lighthouse projects currently being implemented in Chennai, Rajkot, Indore, Lucknow, Ranchi, and Agartala.

The Minister shared the multiple benefits of using these innovative construction technologies, including a reduction in construction cost, time, cement used, and waste generated apart from the enhanced thermal comfort and low lifecycle costs.

Kaushal Kishore MoS, MoHUA, reiterated the need to provide quality housing to all strata of society, using the latest and innovative technologies, as this would contribute to a better quality of life in the new and self reliant India.

Manoj Joshi, Secretary MohUA, also underscored the importance of promoting and mainstreaming modern and green construction technologies which will help the country to address the rising housing demand.

These building materials facilitate faster and better quality housing construction to suit different geo-climatic and hazardous conditions of the country. The conference organized by CREDAI, in collaboration with CPWD and NBCC, brought together some of the brightest minds in the construction and real estate industries.