PANAJI
Favouring the concept of green buildings, Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai said the State will take concrete steps in this regard within a week.
Sardesai was speaking at Goa Environment Conclave, which was jointly organised by Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Sardesai said, “This coming week itself, we will take concrete measures. I would like the chief town planner (CTP), Dr S T Putturaju, to interact with you (industry representatives). My commitment,
as far as incentivising green buildings is concerned is certainly there. But how to get there is the job of the CTP. We can work on it within a week.”
Green buildings are environment friendly buildings, which consume lesser power, lesser water and lesser natural resources in general than other buildings.
Sardesai also hinted that the Town and Country Planning Act could be amended to incentivise green buildings. He said, “If an amendment to the act is required, we have the assembly session coming up. I think the entire House will agree that Goa should remain as it is.”
Sardesai and a number of speakers said that green and environment friendly buildings are part of Goa’s culture and architecture.
Typically, industry bodies ask for higher floor-area-ratio (FAR) to incentivise green buildings.
Sardesai said, “There is a constant clash between development and environment. We had our regional plan, wherein we tried to decrease the FAR for certain categorised villages, which is still not confirmed.”
The industry representatives said that a number of bigger states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have given incentives to green buildings. Sardesai said, “Goa’s identity is completely distinct. Our history is different from the rest of the country. We want to keep it that way. We don’t want to make Goa another
Haryana or Punjab. Many builders come to Goa and try to recreate what is there in their places, which doesn’t go with the ethos of Goa. The ethos of Goa is low density construction.”
