Denchi town plan takes shape
30 January 2009
Pemagatshel will have a new well-planned model town at Denchi. Many features of the proposed town will be designed to set an example for future town plans in the country, said Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley in a meeting between senior government officials and the people’s representatives on January 26 at Denchi.
“Not only should the new town be planned well keeping in mind the needs of our future generations but it should have all the modern amenities to dissuade youth from rural villages migrating to bright city life,” he said.
An area of 116 acres of land has been identified and demarcated for the new town. The town will be centred around a new dzong. It will be elevated to prominence and grandeur over the prevailing topography of the land. A separate court, a public hall, a separate Thrompon’s office and police station will also be build in the town area. The new town will also have all essential services in place. Provisions for at least five banks, a post office, a bus terminal, a primary school and a BHU are also to be incorporated in the new town plan. The town will also have a separate farmer’s market area.
A religious monument like chorten will be central to a public park where both the youth and the elderly should feel comfortable. Denchi will also have a visible open town centre and adequate parking space for vehicles. A youth centre with a library, computers and other recreational facilities will also be constructed to keep the youth occupied usefully in their leisure times. The town will also have one of the best wastes and sewage disposal systems, one that will set an example to others. The sewage system will be closely monitored in line with the Waste Management Act.
The DYT Chairman, Tashi Phuntsho and Shumar Gup Lepo proposed to Lyonchhen that a separate dratshang in the town area would be beneficial for the people of the town along with a duthroe (crematorium). They also proposed the conversion of the present dzong and the new drasha to a shedra institute.
Lyonchhen explained why the civil and the monastic bodies were housed together in dzongs. He said that, while monks formed the basis of administrative machineries before the establishment of monarchy, lack of resources also came in the way of housing the monastic and civilian administrative bodies separately.
“With the completion of the new dzong, the present dzong will also be handed over to the Dratshang. This would enable the Dratshang to have ample space made possible with the completion of a new drasha recently and an atmosphere conducive for pursuing religious practices.
The distance of about 15 km between the present dzong and the proposed town at Denchi will also shorten after the realignment of the road. The dratshang should serve the spiritual needs of the entire dzongkhag and not just the people living in the town,” Lyonchhen said.
However, he agreed that a duthroe was essential for the new town. A few monks from the dratshang will also be required to look after daily ceremonies in the dzong.
Lyonchhen also sought people’s views on whether they really feel the need of a dratshang in the town. “Cost implication is one thing you need to consider as it could be at the cost of other developmental programmes. If you want to divide one cloth piece for other purposes, you might have to be prepared to bare your bottoms,” he quipped. “Preserving the sanctity of the dratshang is another important consideration which we need to take seriously as it is the custodian of our tradition and culture,” he added.
Of the 43 land owners who will be affected, 28 land owners attended the meeting. It came as good news for them when the Lyonchen informed them of providing adequate compensation. Fourteen farmers opted for land pooling while the other 14 agreed to accede to land acquisition at the government rate of Nu 53 a square foot.
It may be recalled that Denchi has been identified as the most suitable site for the new Pemagatshel town out of few other potential areas. It is more centrally located with an adequate stretch of plains with a nearby stream that can piped. Lyonchhen even announced the possibility of constructing a large reservoir over the Oori river that flows below the new town and feeding the villages that are facing water shortages.
Lyonchhen is accompanied by two expatriate town planners, Professor Christopher Beninjer and Dr Baruah, who will be designing the new Denchi town. Lyonchhen met separately with the officials of the Dzongkhag administration, DPT party workers and local businessmen. He met the people of the three gewogs of his constituency beginning yesterday.
By Gyembo Namgyal
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To have a better planned town is not a bad idea, but to be overally ambitious like what is described in the article above is not a good idea. We have examples of failure in front of us, the great Thimphu Structure Plan. Government has spent billions of Ngultrum for the Thimphu Structure Plan and today after nearly 6 years from the date of approving the plan, not a single local area plan have been implemented. Farmers have sold there land, families divided their farm land, people have no place to cultivate and many original land owners have now become landless. People bought land with loans to construct house and could not construct as government failed to make one single paved road. People now live in dust and mud. Looking back to these scenarios, I feel so afraid when government talks of grand plan to show only on paper.
The other thing I don’t understand is why government always give this job of plan preparation to the same person/firm who has totally spoiled Thimphu. Still it is too early for the government to realize how bad were the local area plans. In 20 years time from now, we will see ten big slums. All the ten local area plans will become a slum because they are not planned properly. There is no public parking, no open space, street widths are too narrow, no community space and the list goes on. Only today when we have few houses constructed in Lungtenphu local area, we can see people park their cars on the road. The other problem will be drainage. It will be horrible.
I think our government planner in DUDH can prepare the plan for Denchi which is a small town so that we don’t have to pay another few million ngultrum to the firm of Christopher Beninger. We have so many planners in the MoWHS and if they are not doing this job, what are they paid for. One person like Mr. Megraj Adhikari Chief Town Planner who has more 20 years planning experience in Bhutan should be able to prepare the best plan by now. Why do we need to hire expatriate.
It is time now for the public to question government after having seen the failure of Thimphu Structure Plan.
“Lyonchhen is accompanied by two expatriate town planners, Professor Christopher Beninjer and Dr Baruah, who will be designing the new Denchi town.”
Does our government have no other city planners besides this Beninjer? Can the government give contracts like this without tenders?
What is RAA and ACC doing?
when govt goes on expatriating those foreign planners, when do our Bhutanese planners will plan the city well adequately? every year planners and architects are coming out and govt recruit them but what for? i think by now there must be sufficient planners to plan the town like pemagatshel. who knows Bhutanese planner might plan better than those Christopher Beninjer and Dr Baruah. everybody have their own talent but never get explode until and unless the are given a chance.
good tat a model town is comming up in the east at last.
Hope it wont be like building castle in the air like the airport at Gelephug.
i think it is completely unacceptable that someone who has made a mess out of Thimphu is now being rewarded with another project!
Does American have only one town planner that Bhutan can find? Please, Lyonchhen, use your common sense. If you don’t have faith in Bhutanese planners, then at least find someone good from outside. Talking good is not the same thing as designing well and the Thimphu Structure Plan speaks volumes about the abilities of Chriropher Beninger. Look at the road in the middle of nowhere in front of the Taj Tashi! Look at the curvy and wobbly Swimming Pool road, which is one of the first parts of the structure plan to be implemented. people now have to drive in circles for no reason, and for no reason 10 crores was spent on such a short road.
Our cities are not bad just because they were planned badly or not planned. Our cities are bad because they are managed poorly. After pouring $$ into this man’s pocket, you will still have a mess on your hands in every city if you first don’t learn the lesson that the secret is in managing the cities, not in trying to find the perfect dream city. There is no such thing.
Hoping for the best!
Personally I know that there are many people from outside who are very creative to come and work in Bhutan for free on a voluntary basis. Surely, we will find hundreds of such creative people who can help Bhutan to prepare a good plan. What is MoWHS’s Urban Planning department doing? They need to be creative and should wake up. Remember, this is 21st century and we need creative ideas that can solve the problems of 21st century. Invite urban planners from outside who are interested to work in Bhutan on voluntary basis (at the most the government might need to provide for flight and some living allowance) which can be 1000 times cheaper than what we are paying to a person called CB (I don’t know if he is American or Indian).
It is time for us to think creatively, plan creatively and act creatively after we have seen the big failure of Thimphu Structure Plan. The failures pointed out by Sonam Wangmo is just a tip of ice berg. The real failure will come into full picture after 15 to 20 years when all the local area plans are implemented. I am personally concerned and worried as I could clearly foresee the result we are going to get in 20 years time. I don’t want to see Thimphu getting ruined but I can not do anything as I don’t have authority to change. If I have the authority, I will make sure that many things gets corrected before it is late.
I got to know from my colleagues that MoWHS has now almost dozens of qualified planners. What are they doing? I don’t see anyone in Thimphu City Corporation where there is a real need of planners as Thimphu is the capital city and we need to really take care of Thimphu city. Instead, I find the fresh civil engineers being placed in Thimph City Corporation to get the experience and at the same time work on the Thimphu planning.
It is time for Shabtog Lyonpo to implement some drastic reform in the ministry as the ministry has completly lost its credibility in every field (contract administration, road, urban development, construction, etc.).
People talking of having adequate inhouse expert town planners must realize that it is because of our planners that today so many of our ambitious town plans are in quagmire. Tingtibi, Bajo, Khuruthang, Rangjung and now Dekiling are the works of our so called experts. It is shame that these people who drew the plan in first place are not brought to books. Isn’t these gross inefficiency and waste of public funds. Who are held responsible for all this.
It is now time for us to test the commitments and success of new towns comming up under the new government. Remember, any expenditures spent for good cause and that reaps tangible results must be admired and not poked at. If a certificate to our town planners are to be given, I would propose a certificate of failure and the decades undertaking failed projects.
I feel we still need real experts andwe just don’t have any one, otherwise our plans would not have failed.