India’s only operational smart city and International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), GIFT City has recently been awarded the GREEN CITIES ‘PLATINUM’ Certification for ‘Green Master planning & design and Implementation of GIFT City’s phase I development’ by CII’s Indian Green Building Council (IGBC). GIFT City is India’s first Greenfield Smart City to achieve the IGBC Green Cities Platinum rating. The global and Indian companies consider GIFT City as an ideal destination in sync with their environmental and sustainability goals.
Indian Green Building Council recognises several initiatives adopted in the project which include integrated land use, compact city development, 35% public green & open spaces, substantiate housing, transit-oriented development with BRTS, Metro rail connectivity, 100% road network with streetscape and 100% green buildings mandate in the city.
GIFT City has strategically planned to achieve high energy efficiency through district cooling system and 100% LED street lighting. The city has also embraced water management through 35% reduction in potable water and treatment & reuse of 100% waste water. Considering the National importance of solid waste management, GIFT City has installed an automated waste collection and segregation plant.
On this occasion, Shri Tapan Ray, MD & Group CEO, GIFT City said, “GIFT City’s vision on smart urban development factors in sustainability, being an integral feature of the city with consideration for social, economic and environmental impact. The recognition as a “Platinum” rated city under the IGBC Green City Rating system is a testimony to the city’s cutting-edge infrastructure, design and project implementation which will attract global companies to set-up their base in GIFT City, being in line with their commitment towards sustainability.”
Expressing his hearty congratulations to the GIFT team, Mr V Suresh, Chairman, IGBC said, “Green rating systems of IGBC are designed to address National priorities and are enabling projects in meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. We are confident that GIFT City would emerge as a model green & smart city in the country. We, in CII – IGBC, look forward to working closely with the GIFT city team in the implementation of all their green pursuits”.
Mr Sameer Sinha, Chair, IGBC Ahmedabad chapter added, “Gujarat is one of the leading States in the country that has embraced green principles. As of today, the state has more than 350 registered green building projects. It is matter of pride that the GIFT City has been included in Government of India’s Smart City Mission Statement and Guidelines as Model City in Greenfield category”.
IGBC with the support of all the stakeholders is spearheading the 21st century green building movement in India. As on date, over 6,540 green building projects, amounting to over 7.82 billion sq.ft of green building footprint are adopting IGBC green standards for buildings and built-environment. IGBC aspires to facilitate 10 billion sq.ft of green building footprint by 2022 – the year that marks 75th year of India’s Independence.
About GIFT City: (http://www.giftgujarat.in/)
GIFT City is India’s first operational smart city and International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), is an emerging global financial and IT services hub, a first of its kind in India, designed to be at or above par with globally benchmarked business districts. It is supported by state-of-the-art infrastructure encompassing all basic urban infrastructure elements along with an excellent external connectivity.
About IGBC: ((https://igbc.in/)
The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) was formed in the year 2001. The vision of the council is, “To enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025”.
The council offers a wide array of services which include developing new green building rating programmes, certification services and green building training programmes.
The council is committee-based, member-driven and consensus-focused. All the stakeholders of construction industry comprising of architects, developers, product manufacturers, corporate, Government, academia and nodal agencies participate in the council activities through local chapters. The council also closely works with several State Governments, Central Government, World Green Building Council, bilateral multi-lateral agencies in promoting green building concepts in the country.