CII unit to give big push to construction of green buildings

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has set a target of constructing 10 billion sq ft of environment-friendly space in India by 2022 and will give a major push to housing for low-income group people.
IGBC Chairman Prem C Jain said currently the country houses 2.2 billion sq ft green building space and the target is to take it to 10 billion.
A major chunk of the target will be achieved through creating green residential spaces for the economically weaker section and low-income group people, he said.
"Currently, the residential space alone occupies 50 per cent of the total green buildings portfolio in India. I see a great potential in the housing segment for economically weaker and lower income groups as according to estimates around 15 million additional homes are required for this sector alone," Jain said.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of the Green Building Congress 2014 here.
The cost of constructing green buildings has come down during the past few years, he said.

GBIC, which is part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), would soon start making school buildings green, Jain said.
He requested the corporates to adopt five schools each and convert them into green ones. "These schools will be mostly Government run or the ones in rural areas. It will take an investment of around Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh per school."
Mangu Singh, Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corp Ltd, said by shifting the commuting from road transport to metro, there is a potential to eliminate 11 grams of GHG (greenhouse gas) emission per passenger, per kilometre.

Telangana IT and Panchayati Raj Minister K T Rama Rao said the state government has initiated a retro-fitting programme to make IT parks green.
The government is also planning to float tender for setting up 1,000 MW of solar power plant in Telangana, he added.