BuildMat 2009 Exhibition Inaugurated
Union Minister of State for Finance S.S.Palanimanickam visiting a stall at the BuildMat exhibition inaugurated on Vijaya Fair Grounds in the city on Friday. Indian economy is built with all insulations and the country has the resilience and adequate reserve to withstand the economic meltdown, said S.S. Palanimanickam, Union Minister of State for Finance, here on Friday. He was speaking after inaugurating the BuildMat 2009 exhibition of the construction industry organised by the Coimbatore Centres of the Association of Consulting Civil Engineers (ACCE), Builders’ Association of India (BAI) and the Indian Institute of Architecture (IIA). Mr. Palanimanickam said any rapidly growing economy was bound to face challenges and the present crisis was one such. To make the industry immune, additional allocation was being made. The Minister said that the plea for enhancing the ceiling for housing loans at the lowest interest rate from Rs. 20 lakh to Rs. 30 lakh could be considered.
However, he replied in the negative to an appeal for further cut in the interest rate. On revamping the taxation pattern for the industries involved in construction materials, he asked the industry to come forward with any proposal that could help it perform better. Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar said that Coimbatore was the fourth most favoured destination in the country by being investor-friendly. P.R. Ramasubrahmaneya Raja, Chairman, Ramco Group of Companies, Chennai, said that the Forum of Architects, Engineers and Builders should seriously commit to promoting green buildings. By 2010, India would have only 160 green buildings with 70 million sq ft. The industry should resolve to construct only green buildings in future.
The stakeholders should keep themselves updated on the latest trends in green building concept. The industry should have more Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design professionals to plan, design and execute green buildings. Of the total 42 million tonnes cement produced by Madras Cements over the last 10 years, 36 million tonnes were blended cement. This had helped prevent 40 million tonnes of carbon dioxide being let into the atmospheric air besides preventing 10 million tonnes of fly ash and slag from being dumped.
Mr.Raja expressed concern over the demand of the industry and the government for Ordinary Portland Cement. OPC led to exhausting of precious natural resources such as limestone for every tonne besides letting 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmospheric air. The industry should go in for blended cement. He wanted the industry to provide international standard houses at affordable prices to the domestic market. S. Balasubramanian, Chairman, CT. Narayanan, Secretary of BuildMat, V.P. Ponnuswami, Chairman of ACCE, G. Srinivasan, Chairman of BAI, M. Arivudai Nambi, Chairman of IIA and O.Lakshmanan, Treasurer of BuildMat spoke.
