A survey conducted in July’20 revealed that more than half of Mumbai slum-dwellers are already exposed to Covid-19. The study also found that 57% of the people tested in slum areas of Chembur, Matunga and Dahisar had been exposed to the novel coronavirus. In comparison, only 16% of people living outside slums in the same areas were found to be subjected to the infection. Other surveys around the world have also established a close link between the population density of an area and the risk of fast spreading of COVID-19, or any other contagious disease.
India’s Urban Housing Poverty: Status and Challenges – Over a billion people, or one in every seven individuals on earth, live in a slum, which is typically ten times denser than other parts of a city. Aside from rapid disease outbreak potential, slums and illegal housing colonies also lack basic sanitation and water services, adequate ventilation and green spaces. In short, they offer a very poor quality of life to their residents. In India, slums are also the natural home for a large section of migrant workers who mostly work as daily wage earners in informal sectors.
The government of India has over the years taken many steps to improve slum dwellers’ lives by offering them highly affordable houses. Other governments around the world too have undertaken similar efforts; with many of them focused on improving and upgrading slums in-situ or ex-situ. For a large country like India, building adequate affordable housing for all citizens is an ambitious and yet achievable goal, which is precisely what the government has set itself a target for.
A technical study by the government in 2011 (timed with the census) found that there is a shortage of 18.8 million or 1.88 crore homes. In response, the central government set itself a target to provide ‘Housing for all’ by 2022. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), as the initiative is known, now covers even the mid-income group besides the primary audience of the economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income group (LIG). Among various verticals of affordable housing scheme, the In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR) aims for rehabilitation of slums by building houses through private participation for the eligible slum dwellers on the land under the slums. However, only around half of the slum is notified slum and covered under government’s affordable housing scheme.
The Union government’s PMAY scheme has been working since 2015 to provide housing to the urban poor, and the good news is that work has not slowed down despite the unprecedented lockdown. Over 18 lakh houses have been constructed in the country under the PMAY scheme during the pandemic, and interestingly the average time of building a house came down to 45-60 days, while earlier it used to take 125 days.
However, though the PMAY is making commendable progress in tier-2 cities and rural areas around the country, the slums continue to exist and even expand in many metros and large cities. Providing affordable housing in cities like Mumbai is not easy; given that the land prices are already so high. Further, post pandemic induced lockdown, the availability of construction worker went down, while the cost of inputs such as steel and cement increased. These two factors together not just increased the cost of construction for developers but has also caused delays in project completion. Furthermore, diminishing profitability in affordable and low-cost housing schemes made it less attractive for the private players.
In this background, there’s one ray of hope and a logical and viable solution that the government can contemplate to accelerate the construction, and that is the adoption of the new-age construction technology. Across the globe, processes such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), and manufacturing like methods in construction such as pre-fabricated and pre-engineered buildings are supporting the conventional construction methods to overcome the challenges associated with affordable and sustainable housing programme.
Construction Technology as an enabler for affordable housing – The role of construction technology as an enabler for low-cost housing project has already been established. In a few scenarios worldwide, the precast modular technology has been shown to build a house in 2-3 hours whereas a school building has been erected within 30-60 days’ timeframe!
Contemplating the current demand-supply gap, industry is already looking towards pre-engineered and prefabricated buildings, instead of the traditional brick-and-mortar or cast in-situ construction, as a mainstream construction method. Pre-engineered or prefabricated houses, whether made with precast concrete or steel, are highly quick to create, and durable. Compared to traditional in-situ construction, precast uses less cement, water, steel, and labour. This translates in improved productivity and also minimal logistics since the precast products can be transported to a construction site in a ready-to-install mode. It leads to cost savings, which is immensely valuable for affordable housing projects.
With BIM enabled precast technology, the construction workflows can be optimised for speedier results, with less cost and labour investments. India’s leading precast company Inventaa industries recently delivered a massive affordable housing project in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, consisting of 1,320 individual apartments. Inventaa used Tekla Structures to design and deliver the project on schedule and within the budget, and also succeeded in delivering 10% extra carpet area within the prescribed budget.
Modern construction technologies like Constructible BIM offer enhanced visualisation, coordination and communication, which speed up the planning and save time, prevent mistakes and streamline the operations on site. With so many things to offer, the new-age construction technology holds the potential to usher affordable housing projects into a new era.
Realising the housing for all vision – India continues to have a significant housing deficit, as almost a fifth of urban and rural households have access only to limited housing facilities. To realise the ‘Housing for all’ mission by its 2022 target, it is estimated that India needs to develop houses at the rate of 30,000-35,000 units per day for the next 8 years. To achieve such an ambitious goal, it is imperative to adopt the right technologies at a much faster pace.
To realise the dream of abundant affordable housing, particularly in large metros, warrants the adoption of every single innovation that holds the potential to reduce project costs and time. Precast, prefabrication, BIM along with other modern technologies precisely offer these benefits. Adopting these tools and techniques, Indian contractors can construct affordable and sustainable housing in quick time and at much lower costs. This further enables them to actively participate in the PMAY and contribute to India’s progress and development, without compromising on their profits. It’s a win-win formula for every stakeholders involved – Government, construction firms and the public at large.