Government and Private Land Holdings

Almost all the non-urbanized land in Gelephu is under private ownership, except those in the Gelephu industrial estate and under the tree cover to the west of Trongsa highway. All the government land holdings to the east of the Gelephu-Trongsa highway has already been either developed or occupied or put in to various uses, including open spaces and playfields.

The fragmented nature of the available government lands in these areas, and the divided ownership amongst various departments, is an issue of concern. Another issue is the present use of some of the government owned lands which are either occupied by army or police establishments.

Table 3.4 : Numerical Pattern of landholdings in the Gelephu Municipal limits

Ownership	Area (In Acres)	Area (In Hectares)	Percentage of Total Area
Government	361.59	146.33	26.40
Private	979.12	396.24	71.40
Road Usage	30.44	12.32	2.20

Source: Department of Land Records, Dzongkhag Administration, Sarpang and Gelephu Municipal Corporation.

1. The locations of the following Registered Lands under Municipal Area have not been found in the Cadastral Map, 60/F, 480/U, 4/P, 4/N, 66/A, and 139/F and the areas have not been included in the above figures.

2. The above Government Lands include the Teaks plantations under Forest Department and Gelephu Industrial Estate under Regional Trade and Industries Department and the area has been calculated from the CAD drawing, provided by Survey of Bhutan.

The Building Height Map represents the density of built-up areas in the Gelephu municipal limits. Looking closely at the existing scenario two obvious layers of built-up densities could be observed in the Gelephu town. The highly concentrated, high density town core and its immediate surroundings, and the sparsely developed peripheral areas. The majority of the buildings in the town core are of three stories high with minimal setbacks, resulting in a congested, unhygienic built environment. The plot coverage in these areas extends up to 85% in most of the plots.

The urban environment in this area is dominated by buildings with facades composed of colonnaded ground floor and upper floors punctured by windows and other openings. In some buildings attics are also used as habitable spaces. While, in sharp contrast with the town core, the buildings in the peripheral areas of the town are predominantly one storied structures with open spaces and vacant lands dominating the urban landscape. The open spaces in these areas are either paddy fields, or orchards.

The density of an urban area is the indicator of the intensity and nature of activities taking place in that area. Density` variations across a town give rise to different built-forms and hence density can be best understood as one of the underlying and essential factors effecting planning.

For the purpose of accounting urban densities of Gelephu, the town has been divided into various small blocks. These blocks were identified on the basis of factors like urban form, urban structural elements, landuse pattern and physical boundaries like roads and rivers. The densities obtained are classified into groups which are as mentioned in the drawing.

A town is a living organism. In a vibrant urban environment 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 Gelephu, these range from the proposed International Airport, Industrial Estate, the Fulahari religious hub, and improvement of road connections from India at the regional level. The proposed sports stadium, new roads construction, under-ground sewerage system and various other infrastructure development projects are proposed at town level. 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. These urban inputs take place in isolation of the others. There is lack of co-ordination and integration between 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 Gelephu Municipal Corporation.

As planners and policy makers we must be cognizant that land is not a renewable resource. The practice of consuming land on a first come first serve basis 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 an Urban Village, the land use itself, and the manner in which the roads of the Urban Village 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 population, which is to be accommodated in the town. Though, it would not be possible to service all the areas of the town at the same time, enough flexibility should be left while designing these services to accommodate the future needs. 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.

New proposals of development within the Gelephu Municipal Limit, according to the Ninth Five Year Plan, are elaborated in a later part of the report.