Rajasthan government amends bylaws to promote green buildings

JAIPUR: To promote green buildings in the state, the urban development and housing (UDH) department has prepared a draft of the amended model building bylaws.

After receiving the Indian Green Building Council nod, department had initiated an exercise to prepare a draft to provide relaxation in bylaws. Till last year, the state had 83 Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) registered projects with a footprint of 103 million sqft of green buildings. The move will motivate more developers to construct green buildings. An official at town planning said, “Once the bylaws are implemented, slew of measures will be introduced including additional floor-area ratio (FAR) for projects under Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) for green buildings,” said an official. Sources said the government of Rajasthan had proposed to reward developers by giving extra floor-area ratio (FAR) between 7.5% and 15% at no cost. Like other states, Rajasthan, too, would provide certificates to its green buildings.
These buildings would be bifurcated into three categories — platinum, gold and silver — said an official. Buildings certified as platinum would be rewarded with 15% FAR. Similarly, gold and silver certification would get 10% and 7.5% FAR, respectively. “At present, the state provides 7.5% additional floor-area ratio (FAR) to developers for constructing green buildings free of cost.

The benefit is only provided once the building is completed. However, this provision was not there in other cities. Additional FAR is provided at the time of layout plan approval. We have also proposed the same. Any decision will be taken after receiving a nod from the UDH minister,” said a town planning official.

An official said a green building is one which uses less water, optimizes energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building. A building is assessed based on its predicted performance over its entire lifecycle.

source- Times of India