Ranchi: In a New Year gift for Jharkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually lay the foundation of the Centre’s ambitious Light House Project (LHP), which will be set up on 75-acre land in Ranchi’s Dhurwa area to accommodate 1,008 families of the economically weaker section.
LHP, conceptualized to offer affordable housing for the poor with the state-of-the-art construction process along with global technologies and facilities, is being launched in six different cities across the country under the Global Housing Technology Challenge. The project is part of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) but the only difference is that LHP would use the latest technology.
Governor Droupadi Murmu and chief minister Hemant Soren will also take part in the online foundation laying ceremony of the project, which will be constructed using NAVARITIH (new, affordable, validated, research innovation technologies for Indian housing).
Director (municipal administration) of the state urban development department, Vijaya Jadhav, said, “The idea is to use advanced technology for building houses that don’t just withstand the vagaries of weather but are also made of environment-friendly materials as much as possible. In Ranchi, we will be using pre-cast concrete and prefabricated materials for building the houses, which will also help us in finishing the project in record time.”
Informing that the total cost of the project is estimated at Rs 133.99 crore, Jadhav said, “We have roped in M/s SGC Magicrete LLP, a Mumbai-based firm for construction of the houses. Building Materials Technology and Promotion Council (BMTPC), a PSU, will provide technical assistance for this project.” Rao said.
She added, “The size of each house will be 315 sqft and will have one hall, a bedroom, one kitchen, a balcony and one toilet. There will be water and power facilities in the building complex along with high-speed elevators, community park, parking space for four and two-wheelers. The cost will be borne for the Centre and the state along with some share of the beneficiary.”
The department is targeting to finish the project in one year. Any person, whose annual income is Rs 3 lakh or below would be eligible to get these houses. Besides Ranchi, the foundation stone in the first phase will be laid in Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Agartala (Tripura) and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).