How many primary schools should a town have? How many basic health units? How many hospital beds, etc.? These questions are answered by estimating how many people generate how many children in the primary school-going age? How many people generate a visit a day to a primary health unit? These “populations” which generate requirements for amenities are called “population thresholds”. Different societies have different thresholds. Where ability to pay and to travel to services increases there is more use, and therefore less people support more services; the “population thresholds” come down. Another factor increasing the use of social and economical amenities is the travel distance. If people can walk to a basic service its use will increase and therefore the “population threshold” required to establish the service will come down. Higher densities of population therefore not only augment more efficient utilization of infrastructure but also more use, and more efficient use of social services.

The basic objective of suggesting various norms and standards for urban development plans formulation is to provide a basis for taking decisions regarding correct distribution of various social amenities. For the purpose of Gelephu Structure Plan, planning standards are extracted from two sources. The first document being ‘Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation Guidelines, 1996’ (U.D.P.F.I. Guidelines) by Institute of Town Planners, India and the second document ‘Planning Standards for Urban Settlements in Bhutan, 1999’ by Urban Development and Housing Division, Ministry of Communications, RGoB. The data extracted is tabulated and compared with the existing facilities in Gelephu. Proposals made are on the basis of the shortfalls observed in the existing scenario when compared with these planning standards.

These suggested norms and standards are indicative and can be suitably modified depending upon the conditions. The standards drawn below are considering that Gelephu enjoys a flat land and hence ideal place for development. The population thresholds considered for the standards mentioned below are about 50,000 souls. This is a “conservative” threshold because there are many users in the Growth Center catchment area. Bhutan’s per capita net national income is also increasing, which will alter utilization rates in a manner where less population sizes can afford to support more services and amenities.

The following facilities and services have been considered for deriving standards: