In a welcome move, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra has said that his government will introduce legal provisions by April 1 for stricter adherence to eco-friendly projects, particularly in the residential segment. With the implementation of this new law, it will be mandatory for all new buildings to have energy conservation and rain water harvesting units.
The state government will have new parameters for building clearances with the new law. Thus, only buildings with eco-friendly construction would be permitted by the State Government with effect from April first. The Government would be implementing the policy and the builders would be awarded 'zero net certificate' with additional FSI. The government's objective is also to minimise consumption of power, and encourage use of solar energy and recycled of water for construction. Existing buildings will also be given sops for adopting greem measures.
Construction Week (India) wholeheartedly welcomes this moves. This was long needed. However, we urge the government that the law should be implemented with equal determination on the ground. Just passing the law will not be enough.
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I am just back from the bauma 2010 media dialogue held in Munich, Germany. Scheduled for April 2010, this international exhibition for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles and construction equipment is the biggest trade fair in the world in terms of exhibition space.
With an exhibition space of 555,000 sq m, bauma 2010 will beat the previous record for space held by bauma 2007 (540,000 sq m). As Eugen Egetenmeir, a member of the Management Board of Messe Munchen said, "This development shows that in a tough economic climate bauma remains a milestone in the trade fair calendar of the sector, and that this sector is determined to demonstrate its innovative capabilities at the world´s leading trade fair. Messe München, as the organiser of bauma, will do everything possible to create the best conditions and provide the same high level of service for that event."
What's more interesting from the Indian perspective is the fact that India will be a partner country at bauma 2010. During the media dialogue in Munich, I had the opportunity to speak with several key exhibitors. There is a clear and strong indication that most of these companies are looking very optimistically at India's infrastructure story. While quite a few of them are already present in India either directly or through some partners, many others want to enter the Indian market through meaningful partnerships. This definitely will be a win-win situation with the Indian infrastructure set to make the most of technological advancements. With the markets in North America and Europe still struggling, all these players would be looking at emerging economies to cover their grounds. This is definitely a good news for India's infrastructure industry which needs all the equipment power available.
Check out the Februray and the March issues...
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Issues of Non-Mission cities are addressed through the scheme of Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP).
The Government of India had launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in December 2005 to address the issues of urban development. The main thrust of this mission has been provision of housing and civic amenities to urban poor/slum dwellers, in addition to city-wide infrastructure facilities.
The Mission period - as of now - is 2012. Considering the pace of the growth of urban population, it is unlikely that JNNURM will fulfill all its targets. To give a simple example, 14.59 Lakh houses for the poor have been approved under the mission. However, so far only 1.80 Lakh have been completed and another 4.38 Lakh homes are under construction. This gives a good indication of the mission's status.
The government too acknowledges that infrastructure facilities in cities and towns have not kept pace with the increase in the urban population. (From 159.72 million in 1981, India's urban population jumped to 217.63 million in 1991 and 286.15 million in 2001. We can only imagine the rise in the coming census.
In all likehood, the government will either have to extend the period for JNNURM or replace it with a more effective Mission. Extension of the existing mission with further refinement seems more feasible. The government needs to identify the challenges experienced till date and address them on a priority basis. While the private sector has been involved in JNNURM to some extent, it is hardly sufficient. The government also needs to package JNNURM projects more attractively to get greater involvement from the private sector.
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Niranjan Mudholkar
The Govt is providing incentives to architects and consultants to design buildings on Green Architectural concepts and get them rated under GRIHA
At the National Conference for GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment), Dr RK Pachauri, director general of The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), said that GRIHA is more suited to Indian conditions than any other overseas ratings. This was the first GRIHA National Conference organized by Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) and TERI to mark the launch of the GRIHA and also to provide a platform for mutual discussions and interaction amongst the various stakeholders.
It is true that rating systems can play a very effective role in understanding performance of the buildings and thus furthering the green building movement. While the movement has taken strong roots in India, one must understand that the rating system used by many buildings in India is the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) system promoted by the ‘US Green Building Council’ (USGBC), Washington. Of course, we also have the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) advocating this system extensively. Based on my understanding of the green building movement in India, I can safely say that so far LEED has taken a lead.
However, one cannot overlook the fact that GRIHA has strong support from the government. In fact, the government has recently taken a decision to have all new central government and PSU buildings meet requirements of at least three star rating under GRIHA. The GRIHA rating system, which is based on the initial work carried out at TERI, is said to be in sync with the NBC 2005, ECBC 2007 and other IS codes.
The MNRE is implementing a Scheme on “Energy Efficient Solar/ Green Buildings” with the main objective to promote the widespread construction of energy efficient solar/ green buildings in the country through a combination of financial and promotional incentives to save a substantial amount of electricity and other fossil fuels...
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Steel is hot
The year 2009 has truly proved steely for India. According to government figures, India emerged as the fourth largest steel producer in the world with production of 46.77 million tonnes of crude steel during the period January-October, 2009.
Moreover, if all requirements for adding fresh capacity are sufficiently met, India could become the 2nd largest producer of crude steel in the world by 2015. India also recorded an increase 2.1% in 2008-2009 over 2007-08 in terms of sale of sponge iron thus maintaining its position as the world's largest producer of direct reduced iron (DRI).
While the National Steel Policy 2005 had projected a crude steel production capacity of 110 million tonnes of crude steel by 2019-20, at current rate the country is likely to achieve a crude steel production capacity of 124 million tonnes by the year 2012.
It would be appropriate to say that this steely performance also owes its due to some of the key initiatives taken by the Steel Ministry during the year. This includes i) Administrative and fiscal action to manage inflation in the steel sector ii) Meetings of the Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) to monitor and coordinate various issues concerning major steel investments in the country. iii) A ausrvey which shows that the present per capita consumption in the country is only around 47 kg (2008) against the world average of 190 kg and that of 400 kg in developed countries. iv) Mega Expansion Plans of SAIL, RINL & NMDC Ltd.v) Plans to set up Steel Processing Units by SAIL at various locations to meet customers’ demand for supplying sized and finished steel near the point of consumption, particularly in states where there are no steel plants and where steel consumption is low compared to the national average and vi) Merger/acquisitions/revival and restructuring of PSUs.
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fourth largest producer of steel
According to the 'Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Asia Pacific 2010 report' released recently, India's Financial Capital Mumbai was ranked second only to Shanghai as the most promising development market.
"Development has increased there in all property sectors, but construction of affordable housing is particularly strong, as the government continues to lower mortgages and the middle class is being offered “good-quality, honest accommodations,” said the Report brought out jointly by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC).
Interestingly included under the sub head 'Markets to Watch', the predictions are based heavily on projections for strong activity in China and India. “I think there are buying opportunities for some time,” states one investor quoted in the report.
This is reflected in the choices made by survey participants for real estate investment and development: Shanghai, Mumbai, and New Delhi are first, second, and fourth, respectively, for real estate development opportunities. (Ho Chi Minh City ranked third for development prospects.) Shanghai has topped the list 'primarily due to the Chinese government’s decision to infuse the economy with liquidity'.
You can find the report here: http://www.uli.org/News/MediaCenter/PressReleases/2009%20archives/Content/EmergingTrendsAsiaPacific2010.aspx
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India maintains that major responsibility of curbing emissions rests with developed countries
Finally, the Copenhagen Summit is over. I do not know whether it really could arrive at decisions (or even discussions) that could even start addressing the climate change issue. Projections by the IPCC clearly indicate that if emissions continue to rise at present levels, the Earth will face a disastrous future. Sea-level rise, rapid changes in seasons, damage to biodiversity, heat waves, storms, floods, droughts - the list is long. I do not want to sound pessimistic but I do not want to turn away from reality either.
As far as I could understand, the Copenhagen Summit has actually widenend the differences between the developed and the developing countries. In this context, it is worthwhile to look at a report brought out by Assocham and E&Y on Climate Change. The report reveals that India’s emission levels are 70% below world average and 93% beneath those in United States. This is despite India being the 4th largest economy and 5th largest greenhouse gas emitter, accounting for 5% of global emissions, adds the report.
Thus, following the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, India maintains that major responsibility of curbing emissions rests with developed countries, which have accumulated emissions over a long period of time, points out the report.
Developing countries will suffer the worst consequences of climate change because of their high levels of poverty and the limited capacity of their public health systems to respond. While developing countries will and have to take proper mitigation actions to fight climate change, they have a heavier price to pay. I would like to conclude by quoting President Mills of Ghana who spoke at Copenhagen. "...a major concern of developing countries is that these mitigation actions should not divert much needed resources from poverty reduction and economic growth," President Mills said....
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Water crisis could get worse
While the world debated the biggest crisis of all at Copenhagen - Climate Change, the State of Maharashtra got a huge blow from one of the problems related to Climate Change - scarcity of potable water. Chief minister Ashok Chavan made it clear last Friday that the State will not issue new connections to
owers/high-rise apartments and townships till the Middle Vaitarna project is completed (2012). This includes more than 1000 buildings.
The Middle Vaitarna project, which is estimated to cost Rs 1,329 crore, will supply 455 million litres daily of water to Mumbai by March 2012. While Construction Week India understands the background in which this dictat has been issued, it urges the State government to take strong measures to avoid a situation like this going ahead. These measures should include 1. recycling and reuse of water, 2. avoid wastage of water, 3.mandatory rain water harvesting for all new buildings in the state, 4.keep a vigilant eye on all water thefts and illegal connections while taking strict actions against those found guilty. At the same time, the government needs to ensure that all urban expansion and development plans must take into consideration the limited resources of the state and of the Capital particularly.
This is important in the wake of the fact that the CM has predicted the water crisis getting worse after July 15, 2010. The year 2009 has already witnessed one of the worst rain falls ever adding to the woes of the state and the country.
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Aerial view of Excon 2009. Pic courtesy: CII
Investments in infrastructure has been a tried and tested way of beating economic recession and India has once again proved it right. That the infrastructure industry is back to business in all its glory was clearly reflected in the overwhelming response the Excon 2009 received.
The event saw participation from 435 exhibitors including overseas 135 players with over 30,000 business visitors. What better measure of Excon's success than a survey conducted by IMRB International that stated that the event generated a whopping business enquiries worth Rs10,000 crore.
I was present at the show for the first two days and was really impressed to see the scale of the event and the kind of response that it was generating. I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of leading construction equipment manufacturers who were exhibiting at the show and they were unanimous in giving full marks to the event in just the first two days. "Customers have come with a decisive mindset," said K Vijay of Ajax Fiori. I was trying to meet two senior officials of Schwing Stetter and every time I went to their stall, they were surrounded by customers. These are just a couple of examples but they are reflective of the overall mood at the exhibition.
The event, which witnessed live demonstration of equipments across the range, gloriously proclaimed that the infrastructure industry has bounced back with all its might. By the way, the value of business deals struck during the 5-day exhibition touched the Rs2000 crore mark.
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Niranjan Mudholkar
Demand total transparency
Although it is considered a taboo to talk about the corruption related to awarding contracts for infrastructure projects in the B2B media (at least in India), I am making a start here. No, I won't be getting into specifics (not yet). Just making a few observations (to start with).
I had the opportunity to talk to a small time sub-contractor (cant' share the name) who was invloved in a couple of road projects in Mumbai. And I mentioned to him about the poor state of many roads in the city. His answer was quite revealing. Although he did not talk about any particular project, he implied that many projects work that way. He told me that in order to get the contract, the contractor and the sub-contractor have to grease the palms (bribe!) of the people who issue these contracts. This drastically reduces the margin of the contractor (and the sub-contractor). In order to make up for this loss, they compromise on the quality of materials and construction.
Was this person lying? You figure out. Being in the industry, you would know how it functions. And this is just one example. Okay, don't lose heart. We have some good news. According to the latest edition of the Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, the global construction, engineering and infrastructure industry actually saw a considerable dip in fraud activity. Well, companies lost an average of US$6.4 million over the last three years. What's so good about it, you could ask.
Actually, the new figure represents less than half of last year’s amount of $14.2 million. Incidentally, the construction, engineering, and infrastructure companies registered a below average loss compared to other sectors, with the financial services industry being hit hardest by fraud over the past 12 months. (By the way, the findings are the result of a survey Kroll commissioned from the Economist Intelligence Unit of more than 700...
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