MOVEMENT WEB

Another theme of the Gelephu Plan is to develop inter-linked open-green spaces for use as recreation, sports, walking, cycling, exercising and play gardens. At present erosion is deteriorating the rivulets, streams and the Mao Chhu edge areas. Due to silting, these shift unpredictably destroying crops and forests. The town has shifted once due to this problem! Starting at the upper streams and moving down, a social forestry approach must be taken to stabilize the micro-watersheds into forests and stream side gardens and parks. This essential stabilization process offers an opportunity to develop Gelephu into a Garden City with Green Corridors running down the streams and then finding appropriate cross connectors for footpaths and cycle tracts. A hierarchy of sports facilities must also find its place in the plan with a regional stadium, local football and cricket fields, neighborhood archery and dart throwing ranges. There must be toddlers' parks and chorten gardens for the young and for the elderly. Thus, environmental protection and the urban open space system are two highly integrated elements. Briefly they include the following components.

Social Forestry

Social forestry will involve protecting the hill slopes from further tree cutting and mining. It will involve mass planting on the hill slopes, rivulet "bunding," contour trench planting on the steep slopes, and planting fast growing vines on the open cuts which have been created by mining. It will involve planting along stream edges. The unique aspect of Social Forestry is that it involves all government and community agencies in the efforts to rebuild the environment. The Department of Roads, thus maintains saplings along roads; schools adopt rivulets and streams; companies adopt parks and road medians, and all of these community groups own up to their civic responsibility to plant and to maintain trees.

Urban Watershed Management

Watershed management takes as a planning unit, the catchment area from which water drains into a small gully, a small stream made of gullies, a small rivulet made of streams and small rivers made of rivulets, etc. An optimally functioning watershed holds a great deal of the rain water that falls on it within the catchment area, minimizing the run-off into the next larger watershed unit. When all of the watersheds begin to disfunction and overflow into the lower units, flooding is inevitable! Thus, various measures need to be taken to stop this disastrous process, which is amplified by mining and indiscriminant tree cutting. These measures can be integrated with urban "greening" and park making activities. They involve digging trenches along hill slope contours and planting trees within these small water catchers. Likewise even small gullies and stream can be damed or "bunded," to stop the fast downward running of rain water and trees can be planted in the gullies themselves. Check dams in streams and their side lining is part of a much larger River Training Programme which is needed in Gelephu. Percolation tanks are designed to hold water in a downpour and to stop it from moving quickly into lower threatened areas. The so collected water then percolates down into the sub-terrainian aquifer system, recharging the ground water.

Stream and River Training

Stream and river training are essential to the survival of Gelephu. This is evidenced in the need to shift the town to its present location due to disastrous floods some years ago and the continuous widening of the river and shifting course of the rivulets and streams running into it. The terai of Bhutan is one of the most effected areas in the world by this phenomenon, as fast moving mountain rivers empty into flat basins within a few meters. While the direction is controlled in the mountain ravines, the loamy soils of the plains have no holding capacity! Several factors heighten this problem. One is the careless and irresponsible mining which has taken place in the hills around the city. Next is the indiscriminant cutting of trees for fire wood and various other uses. Once the lion is released from his cage, he goes about his own work! The process has become a self generating one. Without intervention, this golden opportunity area of Bhutan will be thrown to the winds through neglect. A committee is now looking at the problem in the Gelephu area, but this must not end in a mere report, it must end in action. This action will now be expensive; much more expensive in fact than the quick profits made by careless miners who catalyzed this process!

Conservation of Fragile Eco-Systems

If the steps above are taken, much will have been done to protect the fragile eco-systems in and around Gelephu. There are also bird sanctuaries, movement corridors of animals down to the rivers and streams and rare species of plants which need protection, especially along the Natural Storm Water Drain Courses.

Hierarchy of Sports and Recreation

The Bhutanese are a sporting people and sports, like archery and darts, have as much a social role, bringing the community together, as they have a competitive role in showing off to other communities. Indeed the Bhutanese employment of sports appears a healthier attitude toward games than the aggressive, competitive use of games in the West! Thus, there are very unique needs for sporting areas in Bhutan. At the regional level a stadium will eventually be needed in Gelephu for matches between other Growth Centers, regions and nearby countries. Next to colleges and high schools there will have to be track cum football fields. Middle schools will need large playgrounds. Neighborhoods will need toddlers' gardens and also chorten gardens and temples for the elderly. The youth need hangout areas in public domains along the river and in the town center.

Green Corridors

The streams and rivulets coming out of the hills and into the town flow in a west to south-east direction. These begin to build a scenario of green fingers penetrating into the future town. These rivulets can be developed with foot paths, cycle trails and picnic places. These green fingers need to be protected and planted. Crossing these in a north-south direction, will be small, green corridors with foot and cycle paths. These will connect primary and secondary schools, neighborhood gardens and other open spaces into a system.