Niti Aayog praises Telangana’s ECBC policy

Telangana has registered yet another milestone by becoming the first State to implement the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC)

Hyderabad: Telangana, which has been at the forefront of promoting green energy initiatives, has registered yet another milestone by becoming the first State to implement the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in the most effective manner in the country, and in the process, earning plaudits from the Niti Aayog.

The Niti Aayog has in fact showered praise on the ECBC policy being implemented by the State government in its report on “Best Practices in Social Sector: A Compendium, 2023” released on Monday. It appreciated the role of the Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation (REDCO) in the implementation of the ECBC.

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In its report, the Niti Aayog said the TSREDCO was supporting Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) through the ECBC cell in smooth implementation of ECBC in the entire State and that the mandatory provisions of ECBC have been incorporated in the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, making Telangana the first State in the country to do so.

The report further stated that under the initiative, around 430 commercial buildings with a cumulative built-up area of 13.12 lakh square meters have been certified as ECBC compliant in Telangana. The ECBC initiative is estimated to have saved energy of 336 kWh per annum, the report added.

Niti Aayog also mentioned the State’s plans to implement the latest ECBC version for the commercial buildings and adoption and implementation of Eco-Nivas Samhita Code (ECBC – R) for residential buildings across the State. The Aayog further mentioned that for effective implementation of the mandatory provisions of the ECBC, the Telangana government has constituted the ECBC technical committee consisting of representatives from relevant government departments and the academia. The technical committee has developed a third-party assessor model, under which the applicant could obtain ECBC compliance certificate from the empaneled third-party assessors (TPAs). In Telangana, around 38 ECBC TPAs have been empaneled, the report said.

The Aayog noted that the ECBC implementation has been made mandatory through the online development permission management system (DPMS) in Telangana and that the mechanism was first started with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s DPMS and later extended to all the urban local bodies. Presently in Telangana, no commercial building is allowed to be constructed without ECBC compliance, the report said.