Chamkhar town has established on government owned land and has developed in a linear fashion taking advantage of passing trade along the lateral highway which passes right through the centre of the town (see Fig. 5). In recent years Chamkhar has expanded rapidly with the construction of shops along the road that leads to the bridge. An informal market has established in the area immediately to the south of the east-west highway (see Fig. 6). A further development trend is apparent along the road to the north, on the west side of the valley. Here land is gradually converting to urban use in an incremental and unplanned manner. This can be seen by the number of buildings, many of which are without proper road access and are supplied by ad-hoc water supply systems.

The majority of the buildings within the town area are temporary in nature, as most of the structures are built on government owned land. The buildings lack proper sanitary and water supply arrangements. The toilets are predominantly pit latrines built at the back of the shops (see Fig.7).

Because of the absence of private land ownership within the town area, most of the shops are one to two storied and temporary in nature, built from local timber with mud and eckra plaster. In 1985 Helevtas had prepared an urban development plan for the Chamkhar area, but the plan could not be implemented due to the presence of high water table and the risk of flooding of existing town area (see Fig. 8). In 1991, another plan was prepared proposing the town center to be shifted to Dekiling. However, implementation of this plan was delayed as the land acquisition process took a long time. In the meantime more shops were constructed in the existing town center of Chamkhar. Since most of the land in the town center of Chamkhar is owned by the government, building permits for all but five shops were granted on the condition that the structures would be dismantled and shifted to Dekiling at no public cost. All shopkeepers agreed to this and in consequence the shops in Chamkhar are low cost structures using traditional materials and designs. Most of the construction in Bumthang are traditional in nature and attractive in appearance as the use of non indigenous materials is absent. (see Fig. 9).

The site at Dekiling affords a more suitable environment for the establishment of the commercial core as the terrain is relatively flat and vast, thus being able to accommodate future growth (see Fig. 10). The location of Dekiling township is not far from the existing east-west highway and can be easily connected with a permanent water supply system from a nearby source.

For this reasons, the residents of the township had appealed to the Royal Government to find a suitable location for the establishment of a permanent township for Bumthang so that the residents and the business community could make long term investment in terms of constructing permanent structures.