Around 85 per cent of all new building projects in New Town are incorporating technologies such as rainwater harvesting, water recycling, solar power and effluent treatment to reduce carbon footprint, officials said.
An awareness workshop was organised jointly by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Hidco, which builds infrastructure in the township, at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre on Thursday.
At the workshop, Sanjay Bansal, managing director of Hidco, said buildings need to harness new technologies to reduce their dependence on power grids and embrace rainwater harvesting to be as environment-friendly as possible.
“The quality of the air we breathe in every metro city across India is not something that we should be proud of. We need to have sustainable development and New Town has been leading the way,” said Bansal.
New Town had been awarded the “platinum-rated Green City certificate” by the IGBC back in 2018.
Like in Calcutta, in New Town, too, builders get an additional 10 per cent floor area ratio (measurement of a building’s floor area compared with the size of the plot) if the building is certified as a green building, Sushil Mohta, chairman of IGBC and the Merlin Group, said.
In order to get a green certification, builders must make provisions for water recycling systems, usage of alternative power sources like solar panels and waste treatment.
Across the state, 696 building projects — residential, commercial and mixed-use — have been declared as green buildings, according to the IGBC. The projects together account for 269 million square feet.