Tenants of the National Housing Development Corporation Limited (NHDCL) at Pekarzhing in Phuentshogling are not happy with the house rents. They say it is too high considering the housing colony’s proximity from the town.
The housing colony at Pekarzhing is seven kilometres away from Phuentshogling town. An apartment with a sitting room, two bedrooms, two toilets and two verandas is Nu 6,760.
A bachelor’s unit with a sitting room, two bedrooms, a toilet and verandah is Nu 3,957. The tenants say the rent is high for the low-income group.
“We even discussed with the NHDCL officials regarding the high house rent here. We were told that the colony doesn’t fall in the thromde area. We even put up an application to the finance ministry regarding it. We didn’t receive any information yet,” said Pema Wangda, a resident of the NHDCL colony.
As the colony is far from town, travelling fare adds up to the high house rent.
“It is expensive as we have to bear high taxi fares to go to town. We will be grateful if the house rent is lowered. It will solve our problem. Our tshogpa wrote a letter too but we didn’t get any response,” added Chenga Wangmo.
NHDCL constructed the housing colony with a loan of Nu 890 million from the National Pension and Provident Fund, NPPF. Ministry of Finance has to pay more than Nu 56 million annually as loan repayment to NPPF for 20 years, excluding the rental collection.
The housing colony at Pekarzhing started in 2016 as an affordable housing project to address the acute shortage of affordable houses in Phuentsholing.
SonamPenjor
