Surat green buildings lack buyers

A trend that may mar the promotions of green building practices, such structures in Surat are scant of buyers as they come with an additional cost. The construction of green buildings in the Surat city has slowed down as a result.

The Surat Builders Association (SBA) has organised a property show in the month of March where nearly 25 developers had promised to come up with 51 residential green buildings in the city. Nearly 30 of the buildings are currently under construction. However, developers say selling them is a difficult proposition as buyers are unwilling to pay the additional cost for attending specific green building provisions.

“We incur 12-15 per cent more expenses in green buildings. People are reluctant to buy in such schemes but now the awareness is gradually increasing,” Velji Sheta, president of Surat Builders Association (SBA) was quoted as saying by the Times of India newspaper.

Green buildings are critical for the city that has only 8.4 per cent green cover, lowest among the big cities of western part of India.

“There is an additional cost factor involved in these projects and at times buyers are not willing to part with this hiked charges. Yes, we know we need to develop green buildings and townships for the future of the sustainable city. But first we need to educate people about such buildings, its benefits and advantages in the long run,” Tarun Rawal, former president of SBA and currently planning green residential schemes in the city, was quoted as saying.

Temperatures can be lowered by at least three degrees Celsius with the green roof. The idea of green building is fairly new in India and the country had only one green building in 2010. The initiatives to create green buildings have taken off well lately with 1700 such buildings across the country. An increasing number of diamond houses are coming up with the new designs as well.

“Keeping environment in mind we designed our new factory building in such a way that it has direct rays of Sunlight, green cover and minimum use of air conditioners,” Govind Dholakiya of Shree Ramkrishna Exports said. “Unless we have green building concept in our constructions, it will be very difficult to sustain the high economic growth engine of the city,” Ankur Sanghavi, a member of Indian Green building Council (IGBC), said.