The Department of Human Settlement launched Zhichar, a national digital system for building records, land-use plans, emergency shelters, and infrastructure, today. The system brings building and related information together in one platform to support government planning and service delivery.
The Department of Human Settlement started developing Zhichar around 2019. It was initially developed to map buildings across Bhutan, as there was no formal system to keep a national record of buildings. It was also used during the pandemic.
The system became more important in 2023 after including property tax services online, as accurate information on buildings and residential units was needed for property tax assessment.
Since then, the system has been expanded to include information on land-use, emergency shelters, and other infrastructure information.
The Department’s Deputy Chief Urban Planner, Kinley Wangyel, said,“When a building is constructed and completed, its details used to be stored in physical copies. Now, we can store all of that information digitally in one system, making it accessible to different agencies. So, we are hoping that we can enable a lot of other service deliveries to the buildings, for properties and even for planning.”
That information can now be used by different agencies for planning.
For example, officials can quickly find out how many buildings and residential units are in an area. This can help them plan for future housing needs.
“If you want to predict how many houses will be needed in the future, you need to know how many buildings and residential units we have today. With Zhichar, we can get that information instantly. This will help us better understand the demand and plan for future housing needs,” added the Deputy Chief Urban Planner.
Zhichar also provides access to drone and satellite images, as well as information on emergency shelters and other spatial data.
The system is linked with the National Land Commission’s eSakor, allowing updated land information to be automatically reflected in Zhichar.
For the public, a Bhutan NDI-enabled portal allows people to request corrections to their building information, such as the number of units and rental details.
Officials say that bringing together building and land-related information will help agencies plan better and deliver services more efficiently.
Namgay Wangdi
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
