New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS): The US Green Building Council (USGBC) announced Wednesday that M. Ramachandran has joined as a senior adviser to its LEED customer service hub for green buildings in India.

Ramachandran, a former secretary in the union urban development ministry, is an expert on sustainable infrastructure, the USGBC said.

While the India hub was set up earlier this year, the non-profit USGBC had, in June, announced it was expanding support of its LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building program in India.

LEED is a globally recognized rating system guiding the design, construction, operations and maintenance of green buildings.

India ranks third for countries outside of the US with the most LEED-certified space, with nearly 12 million square meters, according to the USGBC.

"I do believe there is considerable scope in our country to spread the message of the need for green buildings and the particular importance of energy efficiency," Ramachandran said in a statement.
"India's exp’nding urban segment, presently consisting of close to 8,000 cities and towns, and policy pronouncement of developing smart cities offer various challenges which can be converted into opportunities," he a”ded.

The government will spend Rs.7,060 crore to develop 100 smart cities as satellite towns of larger cities and by modernizing the existing mid-sized cities, in line with an promise made in the Bharatiya Janata Party's poll manifesto.

India's first set of three smart cities will come up in the next five to seven years in Gujarat, Mumbai and Delhi-Mumbai corridor, it was announced this month. Three hi-tech and energy efficient cities with connected communities will be based on the Barcelona smart city model implemented by Cisco Systems.