CapitaLand rolls out contactless tech at its India business parks

REAL estate developer CapitaLand is adopting contactless technologies across its nine business parks in India to minimise contact between people and surfaces amid the Covid-19 pandemic, it said in a bourse filing on Thursday.

These technologies include contactless lift activation with a foot-operated pedal system, foot-operated doors for washrooms, hands-free sanitiser dispensers and faucets, contactless security for business park entry, and an app-based visitor management system.

In addition, the developer is stepping up the cleaning frequency of common spaces in business parks with a dedicated deep-cleaning team, and deploying ultraviolet germicidal irradiation air handling unit solutions.

Apart from these, it is also exploring ultraviolet light-based robots to kill and minimise the spread of pathogens, app-based elevator solutions, anti-microbial coating for surfaces, and a QR-code ordering system for food courts. CapitaLand, also a mall operator, earlier announced it would roll out most of these additional measures at its retail malls in Singapore from June.

CapitaLand India's chief executive of business parks, Vinamra Srivastava, said the developer's business parks in India had remained open through the pandemic to enable tenants to continue operations.

The group currently has 17.5 million square feet of commercial space - comprising business and IT parks, and industrial and logistics properties - in Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

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CapitaLand India has also formed a dedicated property management task force to help tenants and employees at its business parks adjust to the "new normal".

The task force will train staff, ensure that protective equipment is available for frontline staff, and run drills to ensure familiarisation with isolation, evacuation and disinfection procedures.

It will also monitor hygiene processes, check that cleaning and disinfecting of high contact areas and common spaces is done frequently, and ensure that air purifiers, sanitisation devices and signs on health and safety measures are placed at common areas.

Shares of CapitaLand were trading at S$3.02 as at 3.44pm, down S$0.14 or 4.4 per cent after the announcement.