At a time when construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) is moving at a pace far slower than its rural counterpart, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is set to have a global technology challenge to provide more dynamism to the scheme.

In a bid to accelerate PMAY-U’s target of providing ‘housing for all’, the ministry will invite ideas for innovative technologies for mass housing projects that can help build houses faster, cheaper, and of better quality, with sustainable green materials.

The ministry is set to launch the Global Housing Construction Technology Challenge as part of the technology sub-mission of PMAY-U.

According to officials, the challenge will invite ideas from across the globe for alternative technologies that go beyond the brick-and-mortar building model used widely in Indian construction. The winning technologies would be used to build mass houses, in a tie-up with the states, for the economically weaker sections and low-income groups under the affordable housing project vertical of PMAY-U.

Such houses will be constructed in varying geo-climatic zones across the country.

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