The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is planning to reduce city level impact fees to eco-friendly buildings based on the green rating, Commissioner MT Krishna Babu said on Wednesday.
“There is a 10 p.c. concession on property tax for using solar water heating equipment and an additional concession of 10 p.c. for providing water harvesting infrastructure. Along with these, reducing impact fee will encourage builders to adopt eco-friendly techniques,” he pointed out.
At a day-long workshop ‘Use of Green Energy in Urban Infrastructure’ organised by Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry in collaboration with SEW Infrastructure, Mr. Babu said the demand for energy would rise in near future and there was a need to adopt greener initiatives to mitigate this.
Bicycle corridor
Better public transportation system and encouraging use of cycles in the city would also help check the increasing pollution levels, he said. GHMC had plans to create a 22-km long dedicated corridor for bicycles in Cyberabad to provide eco-friendly transportation. In the long run, each metro rail station and select MMTS stations will have bicycle stations where people can rent bicycles.
“A 100-km bicycle corridor will be created in the city in next couple of years,” he said. By automating street lights operations 30-50 p.c. energy could be saved and a pilot programme would soon be started in select areas soon, Mr. Babu said.
“The city can be made eco-friendly with a combination of initiatives like CNG-based public transportation, encouraging cycling, construction of eco-friendly commercial and office buildings and extensive utilisation of solar energy,” he said.
