Green building policies discussed at Bihar Green Conclave 2024

The third Bihar Green Conclave explores strategies for greening residential, office, and interior spaces, fostering collaboration for sustainable development.

The third edition of the ‘Bihar Green Conclave’, with the topic Greening Residential, Office, and Interior Spaces, took place by CII Bihar and the Indian Green Building Council Patna at Hotel Lemon Tree in Patna.

Nitin Nabin, Minister, Urban Development and Housing Department, states, “the State Government would encourage the green construction practices being a promoter of the concepts to encourage all the stakeholders from the building industry.”

He emphasises two factors that would help the government become a promoter of green building practices: the scope of converting existing government projects and mandating new upcoming projects to be green-compliant, as well as enacting appropriate policies to encourage green construction throughout the state.

He also stated looking into various policies incentivising green construction in other states in the country and implementing the best policy for Bihar. The minister invited all relevant parties, including the CII-IGBC, CREDAI, and IIA, to collaborate with the Urban Development and Housing Department on developing a proper policy for the state. He also noted some of the existing methods at the city and municipal levels to help Bihar become a sustainable constructed state, such as trash segregation, water conservation, and so on.

Dr. Satyajit Kumar Singh, Chairman, CII Bihar State Council, Director, Ruban Memorial Hospital, says, “Introducing green concepts in the healthcare facilities can help address National issues like infection, epidemics, handling of bio-medical waste, water efficiency, energy efficiency, reduction in fossil fuel use for commuting, consumer waste and in general conservation of natural resources. Most importantly, these concepts can enhance patients’ health, recovery and well-being”.

For over two decades, the CII-IGBC has been leading the green building movement in India, and with the assistance of all stakeholders, India has become one of the top three countries in the world in terms of registered green building footprint. As of now, over 14,400 green building projects totalling over 12 billion square feet have adopted IGBC green building rating systems.

Sudip Kumar, Chairman, IGBC Patna Chapter and Chairman, LaaCasa Developers, expresses, “The need of certifying the project ultimately becomes the end result of the overall efforts put in by many stakeholders in a project, starting with the vision of the developer/project owner, design team, MEP team, HVAC team, the other consultants involved in the projects to the end users which feel satisfying in investing in those projects. Hence the achievement of a green certification for a project becomes an aspiring and encouraging factors for all of them to do better and keep improving the building performance on energy, water, environmental parameters.” 

Sachin Chandra, Chairman of CREDAI Bihar and MD of Swadha Developers, encouraged the minister to explore and support the implementation of a robust policy to drive the practical use of green building principles. He goes on to discuss other policies implemented by other state administrations across the country.

While speaking on sustainable industrial practices, Gaurav Sah, Vice Chairman of CII Bihar and Director of L V Best Pvt Ltd, urged CII members and other industrial facility owners to envision their green mission and make their factories, manufacturing units, supply chain, warehouses, and other facilities green compliant in order to contribute to the state’s and country’s sustainable development.

Abhishek Sharma, Co-Chairman of the IGBC Patna Chapter and Principal Architect of PRAYOG, concluded the inaugural by highlighting all of the deliberations and assuring the minister that a team comprised of CII, IGBC, CREDAI, and IIA would meet with him and his department to brainstorm on the best possible policy framework for the state to consider and implement.

Over 90 important building industry stakeholders attended the conference, including developers, architects, engineers, government officials, academicians, and other industrial and corporate leaders.

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