THIMPHU CITY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY Ministry of Works and Human Settlement Royal Government of Bhutan May 2008 Thimphu City Development Strategy Foreword The preparation of the Thimphu City Development Strategy (TCDS) dates back to 2005 when the government requested the Cities Alliance to support the formulation of Bhutan’s national urbanization strategy. The Cities Alliance, however, was interested in supporting only the CDS for Thimphu. Since the formulation of urbanization strategy was priority of the government and since there was funding possibility only for the CDS, it was negotiated and compromised that both will be done with the available fund from the Cities Alliance. The government also did not feel the need for a CDS for Thimphu city since we already had the Structural Plan. In normal practice the City Development Strategy (CDS) forms an initial exercise, which becomes the basis for preparing a structure plan, followed by the preparation of local area plans for implementation. The Thimphu CDS is, however, different because we already have a 25-years perspective Structure Plan which is under implementation through the Local Area Plans. The TCDS was, therefore, initiated to have an interim, broad-based consultative review of the on-going implementation of the Thimphu Structure Plan (TSP) and Local Area Plans (LAP) from sectoral perspective. The strategy makes a review of the sectors that include local economic development, poverty and social inclusion, infrastructure and environment, heritage conservation, urban management and municipal finance and capacities, which were not focused in a very detailed manner in the TSP or which have emerged as priority sectors in recent times after the TSP was notified. Based on the review, the strategy makes various recommendations for the improvement and management of the city. The TCDS focuses on a five-year perspective with a management based approach to city development, building on stakeholder participation and resource management. It is imperative that the CDS document be developed with a short term perspective in the current context as the nation and city itself is undergoing extensive transformation that will not only change it physically but also change the way it is managed. Over the next five years the city will have undergone first phase of its transformation and will require a re-look into its development strategy. Being the largest and the capital city of Bhutan, I am hopeful that our development experiences from Thimphu City will provide good insights and lessons for the development of similar strategies for other cities in our country. I would like to acknowledge with sincere appreciation the funding support received from the Cities Alliance and their flexibility to include the national urbanization strategy together with this TCDS. I also take this opportunity to convey our appreciation to Mr. Songsu Choi, Lead Urban Economist, The World Bank for his guidance and support. Given the detailed analysis that has gone into developing the strategy document, I hope it will contribute positively for further growth and development of our capital city. Tashi Delek. ii Thimphu City Development Strategy Preface The Thimphu Structure Plan (TSP) was notified in 2004 and consequently the Local Area Plans (LAPs) were formulated. Thus Thimphu City has ongoing plans under implementation already. However the draft final Bhutan National Urbanization Strategy (Dec., 2006) highlighted the important challenges Bhutan faces today due to rapid urbanization and the desirable role of Thimphu in the Nation’s urbanization. Meanwhile, the approach paper to the Tenth Five Year Plan has identified poverty alleviation as the thrust area. The nation is working towards decentralization and also providing a greater role for the private sector and community involvement in local urban development. In the context of such emerging national concerns and policies, it is only natural that the RGoB is keen on a review of the ongoing plans and also to review the capacities of Thimphu City Corporation (TCC) to implement the TSP, the LAPs and the newly emerging role it has to play in the management of the National City. The Thimphu City Development Strategy (TCDS) is thus basically an interim, broad based consultative review of the ongoing implementation of the TSP and LAPs with respect to the following aspects (or sectors) which were not focused in a very detailed manner in the TSP or which have emerged as priorty sectors in the recent times after the TSP was notified : 1. Local Economic Development 2. Poverty and Social Inclusion 3. Infrastructure and Environment 4. Heritage Conservation 5. Municipal Finance and Capacities The two other projects, viz. the Second Urban Development Project supported by the World Bank and Urban Infrastructure Development project supported by the ADB focus on the technical feasibility, design and costings of the projects proposed by the TSP and the LAPs. The World Bank is assisting the Ministry of Works and Human Settlements, Royal Government of Bhutan develop the Thimphu City Development Strategy (TCDS) to address the above concerns. Infrastructure Professional Enterprise Pvt. Ltd in association with Ghyaltshen Consultancy, Bhutan has been appointed consultant for this project funded by the Cities Alliance. The project has another major component, i.e. the Bhutan National Urbanization Strategy, the draft report for which has already been submitted and is presently under finalization. Work on the project was initiated in the second week of April and the inception report was submitted towards the end of the first phase of the project during the second week of May. The second phase of the study culminated with the submission of the draft Bhutan National Urbanization Strategy in the first week of September. The submission of the draft Thimphu City Development Strategy in Oct., 2006 marked the end of the third phase of the project. The findings of the last phase were analyzed and presented to stakeholders at a national level workshop on 9th November 2006 at the MoWHS conference hall in Thimphu. This was followed by a public dissemination program wherein exhibits explaining the salient features of the TCDS were put up at the town square and also on the internet. The Final Thimphu City Development Strategy report is primarily an outcome of consultations with the local stakeholders. The outcome is to be viewed against the fact that the time frame for the TCDS was only eight weeks. During the final tripartite meeting at the MoWHS in March, 2007 It was noted that certain technical aspects have been left out of the scope in view of the limited budget and the relatively recent extensive consultation on the Structure Plan. It was suggested that the iii Thimphu City Development Strategy TCDS may be finalized by including a summary documentation of important aspects covered by the Structure Plan, and the investment program .The consultants felt that an investment program would be more meaningfully developed in the ongoing ‘Second Urban Development Project’ and ‘Urban Infrastructure Development project’ as already mentioned and that it was outside the scope of a CDS developed in a eight week time frame. A very brief summary of the TSP is however added in Annexure 1and relevant references provided in various sections. It may also be noted that a brief review of the Local Area Plans is also included in Annexure V. iv Thimphu City Development Strategy Table of contents Preface ................................................................................................................................... ii Table of contents .................................................................................................................. v List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... viii 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Organization of the Report ............................................................................................ 1 1.3 Relationship of the CDS to the TSP, LAPs, and BNUS ................................................ 2 1.4 The Terms of Reference ............................................................................................... 4 1.5 Overall Methodology for the BNUS and the TCDS ....................................................... 5 1.6 The TCDS Approach and Methodology ........................................................................ 7 1.7 Inputs for the TCDS (Consultations) ............................................................................. 8 1.8 Component Outputs and Reporting .............................................................................. 8 2.0 City: Overview of existing situation ............................................................................ 10 2.1 City Profile ................................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Location and topography ............................................................................................ 11 2.3 Climate ........................................................................................................................ 11 2.4 Main tourist attractions ...............................................................................................