New Delhi, Oct 7 (KNN)  Amidst ambitious plans for large scale industrial development in the country with the trend of setting up industrial parks and investment zones, there is a need for eco-friendly measures to be integrated in the planning stage itself, making best use of clean, green and energy efficient technologies.

This will be deliberated upon during the two day international conference, ‘Planning of New Industrial Parks and Investment Zones,’ organised by GIZ in cooperation with the Ministry of MSME, Ministry of Environment and Forests and other industry bodies, that started here today.

Speaking at the inauguration, Director GIZ, Dieter Mutz said there was a definite shift taking place from agriculture to industry and we needed new efforts, new thinking and common goals to make the change productive.

“The manufacturing processes of industries are characterised by high consumption of resources, electricity, fuel, water and a variety of chemicals…that generates a significant among of waste and emissions…  By employing appropriate technologies, both environmental and economic gains can be achieved,” he said.

Pointing to the current trend in the country, “Our industrial approach is reactive in nature with end of pipe pollution control measures.  What we need is a major corporate, cultural shift.  One industry’s waste should become the resource of another industry,” said Advisor to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, G V Subrahmanyam.

The Ministry, according to him has made efforts towards districtwise mapping of sites for industrial purposes, environmental audit to conserve resources and promote eco-efficiency and promotion of cleaner technology to minimise waste, especially among MSMEs.

The conference brought together experts and technical teams from GIZ International, working in China, Germany, Tunisia, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

“It is a brilliant example of cross cultural and north-south cooperation,” said Country Director GIZ, Stefan Helming, calling for a right balance between planning of new industrial parks and retrofitting of old existing industrial parks.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, MSME Ministry, Madhav Lal said that during an inter-ministerial meeting they noticed a trend that MSMEs have actually started to decline with majority of new entrants going into the unregistered and informal sector.

We need smaller industrial estates to cater to SMEs where urban concepts can be applied, he said.

“Although there is a lot of industrial activity taking place especially in North India, all the urban and eco-friendly concepts are not being integrated.  We need to bring local urban bodies to incentivise those bringing modern concepts so that they are incorporated into the master zonal plan,” he said, urging participants of the conference to consider challenges posed in industrial development to achieve the best rather than just the good.

The focus areas of the conference are:  Trends of industrial parks and investment zones, siting of industrial parks and investment zones, planning of industrial parks and investment zones, retrofitting of existing industrial parks, green rating systems and planning standards, technological aspects in planning and retrofitting.

Other industry bodies that supported the conference are Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, Industries Commiserate, Gujarat, Gujarat Cleaner Production Centre, Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board and the Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of Andhra Pradesh.  (KNN/ES)