CII-IGBC seeks sops from T for green buildings

Hyderabad: To encourage more commercial and residential spaces to go green, the CII-Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) on Wednesday said it has requested the Telangana government to provide incentives to entities choosing to be environmentally conscious by opting for green construction.

IGBC Hyderabad chairman C Shekar Reddy said in the case of IGBC rated green buildings, it has requested the state government to consider incentives such as reducing permit fee by 20%, slashing impact fee to an extent of 20%, reducing water and sewerage tariff by 10%, accord faster clearance and ensure provision of rebate in property tax by 10% that was announced earlier.

He was quick to add that states such as West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jharkhand have already incentivised IGBC-rated green buildings and the Telangana government too can consider following suit.

He pointed out that unlike a decade ago, when the cost of construction of green structures was around 15-18% higher, it is now at par with the cost of constructing a conventional structure. A green building primarily ensures reduction in CO2 levels and leads to energy and water savings.

“Earlier we had to nearly import all key materials but now, due to the spike in demand for green buildings in the country, around 60-70% of these materials are being locally manufactured,” he said, adding that over the next couple of years, CII expects around 90% of such materials to be manufactured in the country, bringing down costs further. In fact, the market potential of green materials in the Indian market is expected to reach $300 billion by 2025.

Currently, India has a footprint of 6.33 billion sft of green buildings and by the end of 2022, it is expected to touch 10 billion sft.
Of the total green building footprint in the country, Telangana has 130 million sft.

S Srinivas, principal advisor, CII-Godrej GBC (Green Building Council) underlined that over 300 projects in the state are adopting IGBC green building rating systems.

Meanwhile, he pointed out that Hyderabad will be hosting the 16th annual edition of CII-IGBC Green Building Congress 2018 from November 1-3, 2018. The event will also feature an international exhibition where over 150 green products and technologies would be displayed. The annual flagship event will focus on green affordable housing, green cites, green
hospitals, green schools, green landscape, he said.

source- Times of India