In the future, if you invest in a green home, the state government may offer you a rebate on the registration fee as an incentive.
For developers who opt for green buildings, the state is offering faster clearances from all authorities including the fire brigade and the civic body.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said that the government will soon implement a ‘Green Code’ – guidelines for building eco-friendly structures — for all construction spread over 20,000 sq meters.
The green code will first be implemented for government buildings and those of public utilities by the end of the year.
The guidelines include both mandatory and optional aspects such as creating gardens and green spaces on roofs, rainwater harvesting, preservation of top 6 to 8 inches of soil, transplanting at least 75 per cent of existing vegetation, use of civil construction material with at least 10 per cent recycled material, water efficient fixtures etc.
By the end of 2012, some of these, such as 50 per cent of vegetation of roof gardens, rain water harvesting and white painted roofs will be made mandatory for all government buildings. Others such as the use of 10 per cent recycled material will be optional.
The state is likely to line up sops to give builders an incentive to adopt those guidelines that are not mandatory. These sops include reduced sales tax, single window clearance for buildings, reduced government fee for processing clearances and rebates in water charges if recycled water is used. The Confederation Of Indian Industry (CII) presented this green buildings code and incentive options before Chavan and a host of other senior officials on Friday. The state’s environment department had tied up with CII in 2010 to come out with detailed guidelines to promote environmental-friendly construction.
“If these guidelines are implemented it could result in power savings of up to 40 per cent and water savings of up to 30 per cent. The construction industry also contributes to 20 per cent of green house gases, so we want to incentivise green construction in a big way,” said Valsa Nair Singh, environment secretary.
Currently, buildings with green certification are given priority while getting green clearance from the existing two-tier environment committees set up by the Union environment ministry.
