Smart construction

Our concrete jungles need no longer be rendered wastelands. As reported in this newspaper on Tuesday, all new large construction projects may soon have to obtain environmental clearance to have their plans duly approved. The proposed ministry of environment notification decrees that every large building — that is, to be used by 1,000 or more people or with a cost outlay of Rs 50 crore or more — will have to include a “primary treatment plant” to manage the waste generated. This is a long overdue proposal, and it is to be hoped it will be implemented forthwith.

Yet, this can be only one part of an exercise to imbue town planning with coherence and accountability. Currently, building plans are scrutinised with little more than a measuring tape in hand to check statistics like the floor area ratio. Scant attention is paid to the environmental impact of the construction contemplated and the basic amenities users would require. Managing and providing access to these amenities has to be a participatory partnership between the civic authorities and citizens — at least those wealthy enough to procure ownership of such mega projects. Builders, for instance, routinely ignore the water and parking requirements of their projects, whether they be commercial or residential. Provision of these services too must be made mandatory. Chennai, for example, has taken a lead in this context, and rainwater harvesting is now compulsory. That city, with its chronic water shortages, may have been spurred by expediency — but with urban sprawls expanding faster than water and electricity lines can be laid, other metros too would do well to seek such environmental measures from their residents. On the other hand, room for parking may be a prerequisite, but it is mostly acknowledged through building violations. It may be recalled that during the Gujarat earthquake, many Ahmedabad buildings suffered further damage because parking lots in their basements had been crudely converted into shops and apartments.

Therefore users, whether they inhabit these spaces permanently or whether they simply visit them intermittently, have a great stake in demanding that builders adhere to certain norms. As waste dumps feed epidemics, as water shortages hamper normal life, legislative interventions must be sustained with meticulous implementation.