While India is all set to engage in talks with developed countries at the climate change summit in Copenhagen on reducing emission of green house gases, back home, the idea of converting government-owned buildings in Delhi into greener buildings is facing bureaucratic hurdles.

According to Szencorp, the Australian-based company, which is part of the Green Building Council and is actively involved in the country on green building projects, there are 10 buildings in Delhi and NCR that has got approval under the Asia-Pacific partnership to be converted into green buildings by 2012. However, because of non-cooperation between ministries and hence delay in getting the files cleared, the project is still in the feasibility stage and might take longer. It?s been a year since the Australian government and their counterparts in India have approved funding of about Rs 12 crore to convert these 10 buildings into green buildings.

?Since various ministries and departments in the country, like the bureau of energy efficiency, ministry of environment or the PWD, have no control on each other, the company is already in a mess in India and we are yet to complete the feasibility study that is typically the first stage of the project as against the deadline of converting the 10 identified building into green buildings by 2012,? Mark Lister, group manager (corporate affairs), Szencorp said, adding that procurement of buildings has therefore become a problem because of inefficiency at administrative levels.

Typically, an old building takes two-three years to be converted into a green building, including the design of the building and the cost goes up by 0-14% when an existing non-green building is converted into a six-star rated green building.

While Lister refused to say that the project would cross the earlier deadline of 2012, it is expected that the project will go beyond 2014, considering that the company is trying to do away with the normal process of tenders and bidding and wants to cash on the Asia-Pacific partnership to bag the project.

?The sign-up process was considerably lengthened due to building managers not being sure of the level of Indian and Australian government support and endorsement. Therefore, the ground work required to give assurances to building managers and to get buildings signed up was greater than anticipated,? he added.

Interestingly, India has a 312 million sq ft of green building footprint with over 436 companies registered and 54 certified across different parts of the country but none in the NCR.

According to the Indian Green Building Council, which was formally launched in Hyderabad in 2000 as a joint initiative of the Andhra Pradesh government, the Confederation of Indian Industry and House of Godrej with the technical support of USAID, a green building is one which uses less water, optimises energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste and provides healthier spaces for occupants, as compared to a conventional building.