CEE Jan-Mar 2012

OPPORTUNITIES ACROSS THE INFRASTRUCTURE .... I' Power Oil and gas Roads and highways Railways Ports Water and waste management .......''lfl'-rl. • Government target of 100,000 MW by 2012 • Both generation and transmission capacities being enhanced significantly • Pipline network, city gas distribution and refinery infrastructure installation and upgrading • National Highway Development Programme (NHDP)- plans to construct and upgrade more than 50,000 km of national highways by December 2015 • Dedicated Rail Freight Corridor (DRFC) network expansion lagging behind freight growth; this will need to be made up • Port traffic is estimated to increase by about 12 per cent during 2010-2012; the capacity increase or upgrade bodes well for the steel industry • The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission is expected to increase steel consumption. - Courtesy: Konstruction Review, 21 51 Nov. 2011, P6. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THE'GREEN'REVOLUTION India possesses the second largest green footprint in the world for registered green buildings Sparking 'Green' is the new colour of vibrant India and how– from green hospitals, green metros, green airports, green hotels, green li braries, green pavilions to architects, magazines, ebooks, websites all 'talking' green! The concept of green has taken place with confidence to combat issues of energy and global warming. India has put in enough green achievements to its credit. The C/1-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad by architect Karan Grover was the first building outside USA to be awarded the Leed platinum rating. The lTC Gardenia Hotel in Bengaluru is the world's largest Leed Platinum-rated green hotel building. The new Tamil Nadu Assembly building is the first building of its kind in the world to be designed and constructed as a green building. Chennai's Olympia Tech Park is the biggest commercial building in the world to be awarded the Leed gold rating. While zero carbon cities are being planned worldwide, in India. Ahmedabad and Jaipur will be amongst other cities to have a township with over a million people living in a sustainable and environment– friendly cluster of buildings. Whether architects, consultants or developers, everyone has joined the green environment brigade and the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) envisions India to be one of the global leaders in green buildings by 2015. Green has been an intrinsic part of India. The worlds 'green' and 'sustainability' have been an inherent part of the Indian culture and tradition. In fact, a closer look at the aspects of green bui lding projects, such as daylight and natural ventilation - and one realizes that they are actually fundamental principles of a good design that have somehow been ignored over time. The green revolution in construction that commenced in 2001 has led to India possessing the second largest green footprint in the world for registered green buildings. Such progress in such a short span has made India a role model for many countries. Rather than a development effort, the green approach has today become a trend best suited to the demands of time. The commercial buildings in India have higher energ y performance index than most of its counterparts abroad. A few studies show that construction costs for commercial buildings in USA are about eight times that in India, while their operating energy costs in USA are one– fourth of that in India. Gradually, as one sees in ECBC becoming a mandate 73