For projects in the 5,000 to 20,000 sqmt area range, rainwater harvesting, solid waste management, LED or solar lights in common area and a minimum of one tree for every 80 sqmt of land shall be planted, the notification said.
Soon, it will be mandatory for new constructions ranging from 5,000 sqmt to 1,50,000sqmt in large townships to have rainwater harvesting systems, minimum green cover and proper facilities for solid waste management. A new draft notification of the union environment and forest ministry has made these changes in the Environment Impact Notification, 2006, as 'buildings have a significant carbon footprint over its life'. The existing rules covers only those buildings and constructions above 20,000 sqmt of built up area, while majority of the projects are of smaller size, this it is important to integrate environmental concerns, the notification said.
For projects in the 5,000 to 20,000 sqmt area range, rainwater harvesting, solid waste management, LED or solar lights in common area and a minimum of one tree for every 80 sqmt of land shall be planted, the notification said.
A preference has to be given to native species. For 20,000 to 50,000 sqmt category of building projects, solid waste management facilities in the form of waste composting pits have to be provided. To meet energy requirements, at least 1% per cent of connected load has to be generated from renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic cells or wind mills.
As per the draft notification, environmental conditions applicable for construction projects will be integrated with the building permission that is granted by local authorities. State governments and large municipal corporations in cities such as Mumbai will have to adopt the environmental conditions in their building bye-laws or relevant laws, making them integral to the clearance process for building projects. Once they are adopted in the state or city bye-laws, the union environment ministry will examine them and a separate environment clearance will not be required individual buildings.
Currently, only projects above 1.5 lakh sqmt need environmental clearance from the Centre while the rest seek green clearance from expert appraisal committee's at state-level. The ministry, though, has not consulted urban municipal bodies before bringing out the draft notification and has given them two months to respond. "We had meetings with the urban development ministry and a few municipal bodies, but there were no formal consultations.
Besides, municipal corporations will have to submit the modified bye-laws to us for examination," said Manoj Kumar Singh, joint secretary, union environment and forest ministry.
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