Mumbai, May 2: Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has entered into a joint venture with Canada’s Nova Chemicals to design and construct energy-efficient buildings in the country.

The duo will initiate their venture by constructing buildings for Reliance Retail. Nova said it had signed a letter of intent with RIL for the joint venture, which is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2008.

“Initial steps necessary to manufacture components in India are under way. The first activity of the venture will be the construction of buildings for Reliance Retail in India,” Nova said. The Canadian company added that the proposed venture planned to leverage its “green building and construction technology to design, engineer and build a range of high-efficiency structures for India”.

The venture will enable Nova to work with Reliance to build a profitable business based on its “proprietary performance styrenics building and construction systems”. According to Nova, India has a $60-billion construction market that is growing at about 20 per cent annually.

Nova president and CEO Chris Pappas said the potential for energy-efficient buildings in India was very exciting and these systems were an excellent fit for Reliance Retail’s strategy.