3D concrete printing houses breaking ground in Andhra Pradesh | Explained

A 3D model showcasing the proposed Government City and key buildings planned as part of the Amaravati Capital City was displayed at the Pan-IIT Conference in Vijayawada on October 3, 2026 | Photo Credit: G.N. Rao

The story so far: October 4 will mark a defining milestone in India’s infrastructure journey as Andhra Pradesh breaks new ground with a national-level pilot project to construct rural homes using 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) scheme.

The initiative will kick off with 100 housing units in Burripalem in Guntur district and 77 units in Pothuru. The project has an outlay of ₹13.93 crore (excluding taxes), with the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) contributing ₹9.44 crore and the State government ₹4.49 crore.

Speaking to The Hindu on the integration of this cutting-edge approach, Prof. P. Veerabhadra Rao, Professor of Practice in the Department of Civil Engineering at GVP College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam, highlighted how shifting toward automation could redefine national habitat development. Prof. Rao and his research team have conducted extensive research on these 3DCP models.

How does the technology work?

Construction-scale additive manufacturing—commonly called 3D Concrete Printing—replaces traditional masonry and sequential manual labour with a computer-controlled system. A robotic printer directly translates a digital Building Information Modelling (BIM) design into a physical structure by extruding specially formulated cementitious materials through a nozzle in successive horizontal layers. The process relies heavily on material science and automation to ensure that the wet mix maintains precise extrudability, buildability, and rapid setting times without collapsing under its own weight.