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evelopers and owners of high-rise buildings will have their building permit applications denied if they fail to comply with the '€œgreen'€ building code that will take effect by the end of the month.

Jakarta Building Supervision and Regulation Agency head I Putu Ngurah Indiana said on Friday that the environmentally-friendly building code, which is basically a 2012 gubernatorial regulation on green buildings, would be incorporated in the building permit application process and would be mandatory for office buildings, shopping malls and apartments with more than 50,000 square meters in total area; hotels and health facilities that are bigger than 20,000 square meters; and educational facilities that are bigger than 10,000 square meters.

'€œCommercial buildings of certain sizes will have to comply with the criteria stipulated in the regulation,'€ he said in a discussion jointly organized by the International Financial Corporation (IFC), the World Bank'€™s commercial financing arm, and the city administration at the Jakarta Convention Center in
Central Jakarta.

He said the regulation also stipulated energy and water efficiency requirements for buildings to reduce emissions and waste, which would help reduce climate change impacts.

IFC program coordinator on investment climate advice Farida Lasida Adji said the IFC was eyeing opportunities to help developers with green building projects.

'€œThis is our pilot project in Indonesia. We'€™re looking forward to working with other provinces as well,'€ she said.

She said the IFC had been working with the administration since 2010 by providing advice and training sessions on green building concepts for the administration and private companies committed to green buildings.

'€œNot only is investing in green buildings essential for a sustainable future but it also makes smart business sense,'€ said IFC country manager for Indonesia Sarvesh Suri.

During the discussion, the IFC shared green building development success stories in countries such as Australia, Singapore and South Korea.

Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI) director for membership Ignesjz Kemalawarta, who is also a Real Estate Indonesia (REI) member, lauded the green building policy, but regretted that it had received cool responses from local developers.

He said environmentally-friendly building designs would create higher initial costs for developers by more than 8 percent compared to conventional designs.

'€œIt is very difficult to control energy and water consumption in conventional buildings, but green buildings, according to statistics, can reduce up to 30 percent of energy usage and 20-30 percent of water usage,'€ Ignesjz said.

According to Ignesjz, Jakarta already has two existing buildings that comply with the green building policy, namely the Bank Central Asia building on Jl. MH Thamrin and Sampoerna Strategic Square building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, both in Central Jakarta.

A recently built Public Works Ministry building and Kuningan Tower, which is now under construction, both in South Jakarta, have also met green building criteria, he said.

'€œThe government should provide developers willing to build green buildings with incentives, including a discount on land and building taxes,'€ he said. (hrl)