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s of next year it will become mandatory for big building owners to follow environmental guidelines as laid out in the governor’s 2012 regulation on green buildings.

Head of planning and monitoring at the Jakarta Construction Supervision and Regulation Agency (P2B) Pandita said that the agency was still engaged in a massive publicity campaign to introduce the policy to owners and consultants.

“The regulation will come into effect from April 2013. Thenceforth, we will not issue permits for new buildings nor feasibility certificates to existing buildings which fail to comply with the regulation,” he said.

However, the regulation, approved by the city council in April this year, will only be imposed on certain buildings,

Schools and other educational centers of 10,000 square meters, hotels and health centers of more than 20,000 square meters, shopping malls, offices and apartment complexes of over 50,000 square meters, will all be subject to the regulations. According to the agency, there are around 200 buildings in the city matching the criterion.

All buildings are subject to five categories of compliance.

The first is building management. New buildings must comply with management restrictions from the construction phase, while for existing buildings, assessment will only focus on management during operations.

The second component, energy efficiency, focuses mainly on reducing energy consumption by the use of natural lighting.

The third is water conservation. All buildings must demonstrate water-efficient landscaping, water recycling and rainwater harvesting systems.

The fourth is air quality including ventilation and infiltration. The last is site usage.

“It’s actually not that expensive to have all these components in a building. Based on our calculations, these requirements take up around 7-8 percent of the building’s total initial expenses,” Pandita said.

“In addition, we need to prepare for the increasing price of water and electricity.”

Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI) founder Naning Adiwoso welcomed the regulation, saying that it was the right time for the government to take firm action on environmental issues.

“It is good that the regulation is mandatory and has sanctions for noncompliance,” she said, but it would be better if there were incentives for companies applying the green approach.

GBCI is a non-profit organization focusing on education and helping building managers take a sustainable approach. It also provides a certification for green buildings. In Jakarta, only one building is certified by GBCI.

According to GBCI, the ideal green building reduces water and energy usage by 20 and 30 percent, respectively.

Studies by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) show that cities occupy 2 percent of land but consume 75 percent of resources worldwide, with the building sector consuming 40 percent of energy, 30 percent of mineral resources and 20 percent of water.