3.13 NEW AND ON-GOING PROJECTS
A city is a living organism. Rarely does one intervene into a planning environment where matters are static, or even declining. In a vibrant city there will be a myriad of new projects under construction, in the tendering stage and approved by government for implementation. While these do not appear on the Base Map, they are indeed part of the existing scenario we must deal with.
In Thimphu these range from the proposed Conference Center, Olympic Stadium, the new Clock Tower Stairs, Expressway and Outer Ring Road, to various off-street pathways and housing projects. More relevant than the variety and number of on-going and future projects, is the ad-hoc and incremental manner in which they are formulated. None are part of any over-all, planned future scenario. These urban inputs are each taking place in isolation of the others. There is no co-ordination, nor integration of these public works and future public assets. There is no procedure for new projects and plans prepared by the various agencies to be vetted by the Department of Urban Development and Housing. Even while the Thimphu Structure Plan was being prepared for the Thimphu Municipal Corporation in the DUD&H, several Local Area Plans were publicly announced without the review, vetting, and integration into the planning process. In a similar manner the possibility of locating the new Olympic Stadium in the Simtokha area would involve eighty acres of prime land.
As planners and policy makers we must be cognizant that land is not a renewable resource. It is limited. In Thimphu we are consuming land on a first come first serve basis, which is not an intelligent way to utilize a scarce resource.
Besides the issue of rational consumption there is an issue of the actual pattern in which land is consumed. By pattern one means the density of dwelling units within a Local Area Plan, the land use itself, and the manner in which the roads of the Local Area Plan attach to the overall Structure Plan. With the initiation of Local Area Plans, this lacuna is being overcome.
A final concern with the on-going and future projects
is that water supply, sewerage, roads, electricity, telephones, and solid
waste disposal must service all the actual population, which is accommodated
in the city. First, the issue emerges that each parcel of land must accommodate
its share of the city population. In the existing local areas the proposed
population, its density and the service standards for utilities have not been
calculated, or at least are not available. What can be learned from this review
is that such ad-hoc plans and projects must be part of the Structure Plan.
The “fabric of these projects” must fit within the fabric of the
overall city.