Govt creating climate-friendly urban infrastructure: Housing & Urban Affairs Secy Katikithala

New Delhi, Nov 3 (PTI) Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Srinivas Katikithala on Monday said the government is focusing on creating climate and citizen-friendly urban infrastructure projects.

The secretary said his ministry will collaborate with the GRIHA Council, which administers the GRIHA green rating, to develop a framework to promote climate-friendly solutions in India's built environment.

Addressing the 17th GRIHA summit being held here, Katikithala noted that the central government is taking systematic, deliberative and measured steps to lay the foundations necessary to enable India to transition into perhaps the world's largest urban system.

He said the central government is focusing on building climate-friendly and citizen-friendly urban infrastructure projects.

Katikithala stressed that solutions to address the challenge of climate change must be at a population scale, with collaborative efforts from everyone.

The secretary said the GRIHA Council has evolved the city's evaluation framework. "We would be very happy to collaborate with you. When I was going through this entire framework, it was extremely good, well thought through," he said.

Speaking on the sidelines, Katikithala said, "We will be working with GRIHA to evolve a framework so that the built environment and city-scale environment become adaptive".

The GRIHA for CITIES rating has been structured as a framework for sustainable development of a city, to be achieved by measuring 'greenness' of existing as well as proposed cities.

"The scale and speed of this urban transition are truly unprecedented, bringing with them challenges that are global in nature and civilisational in scale. Whether it concerns buildings, energy, or people, every element is now deeply interconnected. Our response, therefore, must be inclusive -- placing people at the heart of climate action," the secretary said.

The summit also saw GRIHA Rating awards and a felicitation ceremony, where high-performing green building projects from across the country were recognized for their exemplary achievements in energy efficiency, sustainability performance, and resilience outcomes.

At the summit, the GRIHA Council has organised an exhibition ‘NIRMAAN’ which showcases cutting-edge sustainable materials, technologies, and innovations. PTI MJH DRR