It has been more than half a decade since the completion of the Local Area Plan in Jomotshangkha Dungkhag town. But today, only two buildings have come up in the town. Most of the landowners said they are reluctant to start construction given the bleak business prospect in the Dungkhag town.
After obtaining construction approval, only two landowners have constructed buildings. Meanwhile, another one is under construction. And the Jomotshangkha Dungkhag Administration has approved one more application for construction.
The rest of the landowners do not have plans to construct buildings any time soon.
“We don’t have money to construct buildings. For building construction, we need structural drawings which require money. Business out here is not growing fast enough. So, it will be difficult to construct a bigger house,” said Sushila Damala, one of the landowners in Jomotshangkha.
“If we construct many houses we won’t be getting enough tenants since we have a fewer population out here. Moreover, we already have government houses so it will a problem for us. And even taking loans from the banks is not easy as interest rates are high. We won’t able to repay,” said Tashi, another landowner.
There are more than 100 landowners in the Jomotshangkha Dungkhag town area. They were given Lag Thrams in 2018 to start construction.
The construction of a three-storied building is allowed in the core town area and two-storied buildings in the extended town area.
Meanwhile, the Jomotshangkha Dungkhag Administration is doing its bits to encourage the landowners to start construction. The office has been advising landowners to start construction in a phased manner.
“We are suggesting them to first start with the ground floor and then continue construction of the remaining floors whenever they get money. We do not force them to construct a three-storied building all at once,” said Jomotshangkha Dungpa Lamdra Wangdi.
The Dungkhag Administration also plans to construct an internal road network and other facilities like sewerage and drainage to develop the town.
The Dungpa said Jomotshangkha Dungkhag town has the potential to become a tourist attraction, especially for the regional tourists as it is located near two Indian states of Assam in the south and Arunachal Pradesh in the North.
Currently, about 1,500 people reside in the Jomotshangkha town area.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Phub Gyem
