People constructing buildings in the new Bumthang town planning are faced with shortage of materials such as sand and stone for their construction works.
This is making it difficult for them to abide by the unique construction regulations specific to Bumthang with the Municipal Office implementing the regulations strictly.
Likewise, the office is also finding it difficult to control all the construction works as per the regulations with unauthorised structures sprouting up.
The new Bumthang town planning, which has three Local Area Plans (LAPs) namely the Chamkhar, Dekiling and Jalikhar, is spread across over 9 square kilometres of land.
Landowners are yet to receive their land ownership certificates but they are issued provisional Lag Thrams (Land Ownership Certificates), which allow them to construct houses in the town area.
Seventy two year-old Sangay’s partially complete two-storey house is the first structure being built in the new Chamkhar Local Area Plan.
He is worried that the shortage of sand and stone will hamper construction works in the future.
“If people risk using sub-standard sands and stones available in their registered lands for construction, I feel this will affect the stability of the houses in future,” adds Sangay.
With many more structure constructions in the pipeline, Sangay suggests concerned agencies must make raw materials readily available in the locality.
Elsewhere, the problem is similar.
People have to buy the materials form other districts or resort to the ones available in the neighbourhood.
“We have to get the sand either from Gyalpoizhing in Monggar or from Wangdue Phodrang, which becomes very expensive for us. Likewise, we have to bring gravels from Kurichhu in Monggar,” said Pema Thinley, adding: “Similarly, timber is also not readily available as most portions of the forest nearby are part of the town planning.”
Thromde Ngotshab of Bumthang Municipality, Ugen Sangay said, “Some people are using the sand available at a quarry in Karshong of Chhumig Gewog but the quality of the sand is not good. Likewise some are using the sand dug from a private land at Phomrong in Tang Gewog.”
He added: “Although, what the municipal office is doing is to standardise the constructions and has long-term benefits for the people, as of now people are facing difficulties.”
The Municipal Office, however, is facing its own challenges in controlling the constructions. Due to the scarcity of the construction materials, some people illicitly use readily available local hollow blocks or imported bricks.
The office has either imposed penalties on them or rectified their construction.
“We have 3 LAPs, which makes monitoring all the construction works very difficult. We just have one Building Inspector, an Urban Planner and an Engineer in the Municipal Office, so it’s difficult to visit the sites everyday. We go for inspection twice a week but people finish constructing structures using unauthorized materials such as hollow blocks and bricks within the days when we cannot go for inspection,” said Pema Thinley, Urban Planner, Municipal Office, Bumthang.
Bumthang Dzongkhag’s District Engineer, Yeshi Dorji said the Dzongkhag Administration and the Natural Resources Development Corporation Limited’s regional office in Bumthang collaborated and tried to set up a stone quarry at Dhur in Chhoekhor Gewog but failed to acquire public clearance.
He also said, majority of the sands available in Bumthang are mountain sands, which are not of good quality. He further added that there is no potential to quarry sand on large scale in Bumthang.
As per Bumthang’s Development Control Regulations, only stone masonry is allowed for construction of exterior parts of buildings. This is to preserve traditional Bhutanese architecture and design. But hollow blocks and bricks are allowed for construction of interior parts of the buildings.
There is a similar regulation in Tashi Yangtse as well.
