New Delhi, August 18: Union Minister Hardeep S Puri urged the steel industry to come out with their own design and structures for the usage of newer strategies and technologies for faster completion of resilient houses. He also said that MoHUA will collaborate to promote it across the states.

 

 

The Minister said that the Ministry has already launched a global challenge - Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC) to promote and propagate such new technologies while addressing a webinar on Atmanirbhar Bharat: Fostering Steel Usage in Housing & Construction and Aviation Sector.

 

 

He also added that about 158 lakh Metric Tonne steel and 692 lakh Metric Tonne cement is likely to be consumed in the construction of all the houses sanctioned under PMAY(U) as per estimates. The Minister said that nearly 84 lakh MT steel and 370 lakh MT cement would have already been consumed in houses grounded/completed so far.

 

 

Puri also gave the information that under PMAY(U) 1.07 cr houses (against the demand of 1.12 cr houses) across 4,550 urban cities and 67 lakh houses have been grounded and 35 lakh have been delivered so far, Hardeep Singh Puri added that an estimated 3.65 crore jobs would be generated in the construction of all sanctioned houses of which about 1.65 crore jobs would have already been generated in the construction of houses grounded so far.

 

Speaking on urbanization, the Minister said that our urban centers/cities are hubs of economic productivity, infrastructure, culture, and diversity. Over 40% of our population is expected to live in our urban centers by 2030. To cater to this growing urban population, India has to build 600 to 800 million sq m of urban space every year till 2030 he said.

 

The minister added that in 2019, a vision for India becoming a $ 5 trillion economies by 2024 was laid out by Prime Minister, and this growth was envisioned to be anchored in innovative, sustainable, inclusive, and self- reliant infrastructure development across the country.

 

Highlighting the usage of steel in urban transport, Puri said that presently about 700 km metro length is operational in 18 cities and about 900 km network is under construction in 27 cities. He added that the average per KM requirement of steel in metro projects is about 13,000 Metric Tonnes (Types -Reinforcement Steel, Structural Steel, Stainless Steel, and HT Steel).

 

Highlighting usage of steel in the aviation sector, Civil Aviation Minister said that Steel is being used extensively in Airport Terminal buildings for the roof structure and as support to the glass façade. He stated that with a steel roof structure, large column-free spaces can be created to give unobstructed view and appearance.

 

He added that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has given a strong push to new technologies and informed that across the country as of today more than 15 lakh houses have been built/under construction using new technologies, both, under PMAY as well as through other state agencies.