CHENNAI: The total requirement for urban housing for slum and non-slum households under ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Housing For All’ scheme in the State is 8.03 lakh, according to a demand survey done by Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board.

The State, which signed an MoU with the Union government, had to conduct a survey for assessing the actual housing requirement. It is a basic necessity following which the State has to come out with a Housing for All plan of action.

According to census figures, the State has a total of 16.24 lakh urban slum households of which 7.53 lakh live in the 12 corporations. The State currently requires an additional 12.94 lakh homes to be provided to the urban poor, 6.72 lakh of which are required in the 12 corporations.

As per the Housing For All mission, the houses constructed should either be in the name of the female head of the household or as joint ownership. The annual income limit for beneficiaries under the economic weaker section is about Rs 3 lakh per year. For beneficiaries under the low-income group, the number is between Rs 3-6 lakh per year.

Sources said that the focus is now on constructing affordable houses for the slums and non-slum households. It is learnt that the guidelines for building affordable houses have been prepared. The affordable homes have been distinguished under three categories with areas up to 40, 60 and 75 square metres.

Similarly, the Slum Clearance Board is looking at innovative methods to construct housing for poor as mandated by the scheme. “Among the available new technologies in the construction sector for building tenements, the Slum Clearance Board is looking at prefabrication, monolithic construction and Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum,” sources said.

In fact, prefabrication is being used in three ongoing projects in Moorthingar Street in North Chennai, Sholinganallur in South Chennai and Erode.

The Slum Clearance Board is also encouraging tenders where any approved technology is acceptable for implementation. Institutions like IIT Madras, National Institute of Technology Trichy and Anna University are engaged in evolving new technologies, TNSCB sources said.

Meanwhile, the Slum Clearance Board has proposed to conduct a workshop on technology innovation along with the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) in mid-June for technocrats, engineers, builders and developers.

Four new variants

Prefabrication: Used for multi-storey projects. Columns, beams, lintels with sunshade are manufactured to the given dimension in factories or precast yards and brought to sites during implementation.

Monolithic construction: Modular formwork made out of aluminium plastic composites are used for walls, floors, slabs, stairs together with window openings, cast in one place.

Glass Fibre Reinforced Gypsum: Consists of building panel products made of calcined gypsum, plaster, reinforced with glass fibres for mass scale building construction.

Pre-engineered building: Entire structure is pre-sheared, pre-punched, pre-drilled, pre-welded and pre-formed in factories before being shipped to the site for erection.

With the Ooty Flower Show just around the corner, the Udhagamandalam Municipality has initiated a slew of infrastructure works to help cope with the increased tourist flow into the town.