The story of the unique Tshongdue town in Paro with traditional buildings adorning the landscape is beyond what the eyes could see. What is appealing to the eyes is turning into a problem for the landowners. Without getting the expected due for upholding the tradition, they now want to demolish the old houses and construct new buildings. The same was discussed in the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu.
The buildings in Tshongdue town are the embodiment of unique traditional patterns and distinctive architecture. However, most of the houses are almost half a century old and in need of major maintenance. Wangdi owns one of such buildings in the town. He is planning to replace his two-storied traditional house with a multi-storied building. But he cannot because of a restriction.
“The houses are old and decaying, we want to renovate from the foundation but it is not allowed. There are no benefits for keeping our houses like this, not even incentives from the government for sacrificing our houses in the interest of preserving the traditional structure. Some of the house owners constructed four to five-storey houses in the same row. They are reaping high rental charges whereas we only get about Nu 50,000 a month. So there is no uniformity now,” he said.
Wangdi is not alone, many have sought approval to reconstruct their houses in the town.
“People came to me complaining about how their house is old and the low loan valuation from financial institutions despite being in the core town. And they say the rents they get from the houses are also low. That’s why I had to put up to the Dzongkhag Tsogdu,” said Deki Lhamo, the Thromde Thuemi of Paro.
However, according to the development regulatory officer, the buildings in town must follow the Bhutan Building Regulation 2018 and Paro Valley Development Control Regulations. As per these regulations, Tshongdue town is allowed to come up with five-storeyed buildings. But except for a few cases, most landowners were restricted from exercising these regulations.
“The restrictions or the order was there since the first layout of the town planning in Paro. So now we have decided to officially write to MoWHS through the Dzongkhag Tshogdu, requesting to revoke the order and allow the construction of buildings uniformly with five stories. We have to wait for their response,” said Phub Lhamo Tamang, the Development Regulatory Officer in Paro.
During the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdue, local leaders discussed asking the government to come up with some form of incentives for the house owners if they have to live up to the unique town tag. Some of the leaders also said that the works and human settlement ministry must come up with uniform drawings blending traditional design in multi-storied buildings like that of Bajo town in Wangdue.
Namgay Wangchu, Paro
Edited by Sonam
