The relocation of the automobile workshops at the Olarongchhu in Thimphu will depend on the completion of the Thimphu Structure Plan. This is according to the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Dorji Tshering. The Minister said the Structure Plan is expected to be ready by the mid of this year.
In an interview with the BBS, the Minister said any structure planning should follow the guidelines set by the Royal Commission for Urban Development. The commission completed the guidelines in December last year. And accordingly, the ministry started working on the Thimphu Structure Plan.
“After the completion of the Thimphu Structure Plan, we will be able to tell the exact relocations of the workshops. However, there is no surety that all the workshops are going to be located in the same area. For repairs that require months, there will be a huge workshop for that. However, for services like car washing and filling air that might take only a few hours, we are exploring opportunities to locate it in different pockets of areas,” said the Minister.
Lyonpo added the old plans to relocate the whole workshop area to Pamtsho are also being worked on.
“The idea of locating a proper area for workshops in Pamtsho was there way before all this came up. While coming up with the Thimphu Structure Plan, the main idea of locating workshops in Pamtsho was to ease the congestion in the city.”
Today, people complain of exorbitant rental charges, traffic congestion and pollution in the workshop area.
There were around 32 workshops in 2008 when it was relocated to Olakha. Today, there are around 150 workshops in the cramped Olarongchhu area.
Devika Pradhan
Edited by Sonam Pem
