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Dear Friends,
here is something i have
experienced in a Green Asia
Meet 07 at Singapore. There
are many minute details,
will follow in detail
report. Also its my personal
observations, our problems
may be a bit different so
the solutions will be, the
crucks is the way they are
flexible & fast in
solutions.
Aesthetics & Environments ….
Recently I had been called
to read my paper at Green
Asia meet in Singapore. I
have tried my best to
promote Pune in my
presentation as many wasn't
knowing Pune at all,they
have just heard the name &
thats all.Banglore & Mumbai,
a bit of Noida thats what
they were knowing.There were
representives from Planning
authorities,developers,fund
managers from all major
citys from East Asia.
I think we should cal few of
them in Pune via our Envo
Committee forrum.
It wasn't my first visit to
the city but surely with the
environment back ground it
looked more beautiful to me
& a comparison with our city
is unavoidable. The
conference was about
urbanization in the East
Asian countries & the impact
of environment it's causing
on the city life as well
overall.
During the sessions I get an
opportunity to meet many
people from the field & also
to roam in & around
Singapore, one of the most
beautiful as well
environment savy metro of
East Asia. With a population
over 42 million even they
are also facing problems of
traffic & energy. Also being
an island in Hindi Ocean
they don't have a permanent
source of poatable water &
water is a scarce thing.
Being an equatorial country
though rains are all over
the year yet increasing
urbanization is a looming
threat on the greens.
A small example is the way
they are dealing with the
issues is the way they dealt
with debris of construction
activity as well the
excavated stuff (multi
storied basements parking is
a common thing for the most
sky scrappers) & the dumping
yards is a problem. What
they did is, they have made
to dump the excavated stuff
in the open spaces adjoin to
the buildings within the
plot premise( like open
spaces in our layout,not to
forget that club house & all
other things are allowed at
podium or at terrece level)
& retain it with proper
walls & convert it in to
small hill garden. Hundreds
of such hills island covered
with thick big trees is seen
in between the tall
buildings, is the effect.
Both purposes achived, the
excavated stuff taken care
as well green cover is
maintained. All the bridges
are covered with bogon-well
( flowering
crippers),covering the
exposed concrete parts of
the structures like bridge
with greenery is a common
practice.
The best part is environment
is not just a technical
thing, it's aesthetic looks
of the city also & the
striking feature was no
hoarding in haphazard way
all along the streets which
is a common scene for us &
no mesh of cable TVs, cell
phone towers, broad band
cabling all over the sky
line of the city. It feels
so good to have a look of
the city without any such
obstructing objects, there
are huge advertising
hoardings but at fixed
positions only. The city was
celebrating their festivals
but without cut outs of
numbers of political/social
images on them in all shapes
& moods!
Even the best public
transport system, the bus
service is facing the
problem of economic surge of
the city. Upper crest isn't
ready to be seen in designer
clothes & waiting at bus
stops ,so now they are
thinking on lines how to
make people comfortable not
only during the travel but
on bus stops also. The
busses are air conditioned,
clean, and equipped with
popular TV channels
displaying current shows on
them. The major problem most
of the Metros are facing is
from this class of socity
which has money in their
pockets & gives importance
to the wealthy life style
where they think "if they
can spend then why not" type
attitude. It reflects not
just in spending valuable
goods but consumption of
natural resources like water
& energy. Most of the
electrical energy comes from
burning of fossil fuels so a
slightest saving in power
consumption is directly
related to the conservation
of natural resources.
Being equatorial country,
rains is a daily routine &
they have one of the best
rain water collection system
which is maintained at high
priority. Every drop of rain
water is collected with a
net work of open channels
which are spread all along
the roads, public areas.
This water is collected to
pumping stations at regular
interval & guided to natural
passages like river &
streams.
The whole city is user
friendly in terms of
information of the services
the city offers right from
metro to bus service to land
marks of the city.At every
major square on main streets
there is a booth of
Singapore Tourism with a
person there for giving
information about the city
as well distributing free
city maps with locations of
interests mentioned. This is
something which really makes
a visitor to become fond of
the city. The local citizens
also get benefited with the
facility as Singapore being
a big Metro many don't know
about all the places in the
city.
Seeing this I just keep on
thinking what is going wrong
with us and where they are
scoring above us! I think
it's the accepting facts,
knowing what kind of result
we want to achieve &
adopting the remedies at
fast rate at which
urbanization is growing, has
made Singapore unique !
Let's act & not just think
friends, time is running
out…..
Sanjay Deshpande
Chairman Envo Committee.
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