Ap Tsara speaks…
26 June 2009
Wai! Every week, I hear a familiar lament, “It is easier to find a girl than a house here.”
Housing supply in urban Bhutan just does not keep up with the demand. In a nation with a miniscule population which possess and manufactures most materials needed for housing construction, this sorry state of affairs is akin to a cobbler having no shoes.
The irony is that urbanization itself is not a natural phenomenon. Our erstwhile policies actually impeded the autonomous development of all our rural centers. Therefore, most houses in our rural centers now lie empty. The owners have absconded to urban centers to the chagrin of visiting RICBL housing insurance officers.
The housing industry is still trapped in a labyrinth of befuddled policies. Getting a building permit is a long drawn and costly process. The cost of every construction material is artificially inflated. The cost of natural resources like sand, aggregates and boulders shoots up and down at incredible whim. All materials imported, except for CGI sheets, are doubly taxed. Even with abundant 70% forest cover, our citizens import their furniture.
This state of affairs only seems to benefit a section of the elite. This breed is actually responsible for the present state of affairs. I am afraid that irreparable damages have been done by them. So it will be a miracle when the paper tiger Tenancy Policy has enough teeth to bite.
Meanwhile, tenants will continue to pay the tragic price. And if they ever complain about the rent increase or anything, they can be sure to be ‘shown the door’.
The government must take bolder steps. The prices of natural resources must be universally affordable. The decentralization process can be bolstered. The government must lift taxes and even grant subsidies on most constructions materials.
Housing is a necessity, not a luxury.
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Loading ...Zakar for Friday July 30 2010
20th Day of the 06th Month - Iron Male Tiger Year
Auspicious for: Carrying out daily chores and making offerings.
Inauspicious for: Starting construction of new house, sowing seeds, planting flowers, entering the new house, shifting houses, calling upon superiors, starting business, doing charity works in the name of deceased, taking out dead bodies, paying grain debts, undertaking long journey and holding discussion.
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