Making houses green State to give incentives if developers achieve GBI index

" ARchiteCTURE for LIFE "

By WINNIE YEOH | Oct 23, 2009 (StarProperty)

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INCREASED plot ratio for commercial buildings and reduced development charges — these are the incentives developers will get if their projects in Penang achieve the Green Building Index (GBI) gold standard.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the development charges would be reduced by up to 67% for such projects.

He said projects which received GBI recognition would also get faster approval under a Green Lane Fast Track Approval scheme which the state government was currently drafting.

The GBI was introduced by the Malaysian Institute of Architects (MIA) and Association of Con-sulting Engineers of Malaysia (ACEM) in May.

It is a rating system that assesses the impact of a new building on its environment based on six criteria — energy efficiency, indoor environment quality, sustainable site and management, materials and resources, water efficiency, and innovation.

Buildings are rated on a point-scoring format and depending on their score, can be awarded the GBI platinum, gold, silver and certified standards.

Lim said the state government would embrace the GBI in its future real estate projects with the eco theme park in Teluk Bahang to be among the first.

“We’ve instructed all agencies, especially Penang Development Corporation, to be GBI-compliant for projects which have not commenced,” he said after opening the Penang GBI Forum 2009 in Komtar yesterday.

He, however, said the state would not rush to make GBI a policy.

“We will talk about the principles first before going into the details.

“We also need to hold some consultations and educate the parties involved before enforcing the policy and making it compulsory,” Lim added.

He said the state government hoped to make an announcement early next year on the matter.

Lim said the GBI elements could be incorporated into existing buildings but this would be more costly.

“We urge the Federal Government to give incentives in the form of tax rebates for all money spent in converting buildings to GBI standards.

“The saving is long-term. Unless we look at the long term, it’s difficult to attain international benchmark and standards,” he added.

He also said the state government would jointly host a Green Island Vision competition and an International Convention on Green Buildings with Greenbuildingindex Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MIA and ACEM to administrate GBI accreditation and training of GBI facilitators and certifiers.

Lim added that the state government had identified Teluk Bahang as the site for another competition called ‘Ideas Competition for Green Resort’ for Asian students.