The Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development has been carrying out most of the conservation works on heritage sites so far. There are not many in the private sector with the capacity to carry out conservation works on heritage sites. To address the skills shortage in the private sector, the Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development is providing a two and half month of training on the Conservation of Heritage Buildings to eight private engineers and architects.
The training, according to the Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development is in alignment with the transformation reforms in the country, which requires the involvement of the private sector.
“With this training, we are targeting them to engage in conservation works. With that, we would be giving capacity building and employment opportunities for them to contribute to the process of nation-building,” said Yeshi Samdrup, the Executive Architect at the Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development.
The participants are looking forward to learning about the heritage site conservation processes.
“Since the department is now planning to outsource some of the documentation and conservation works to the private sectors, I believe getting this training here and learning from the experts here will be very helpful for us,” said Sangay Thinley, a participant.
“It is not entirely the responsibility of the government to conserve our traditional structures, so parting this knowledge to the private sector will be very beneficial since there will be broader branches working on the conservation of our heritage sites,” said Thinlay Zangmo Sherpa, another participant.
The Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development will outsource the conservation works to the private sector from July of this year.
Namgay Dema
Edited by Sherub Dorji
