To make Gelephu a  “clean, green and livable city”, Gelephu thromde is encouraging residents who are constructing new buildings to plant trees in the surrounding.

Thrompon Tikaram Kafley said he wants trees to grow in the city along with the buildings. The thromde, he said, has put in place a policy that requires a person seeking a construction permit or occupation certificate to plant 15 trees.

The policy, according to the thrompon, will enable the thromde to develop into not only an economically vibrant city but also be ecologically sustainable. “My mission is to develop Gelephu into a livable city where children can play with butterflies in their surrounding. It should be free of dust and mud,” Tikaram Kafley said.

The thromde has also established an industrial service centre, which is divided into 102 plots and leased to the public for establishment of business enterprises.

“The business enterprises are mainly service-oriented. The thromde earns an annual lease revenue of about Nu 10M, which will be useful for the thromde in meeting its expenditure,” the thrompon said.

The thromde is eager to implement the 12th Plan activities. “We are waiting for the budget to implement our plans,” he said,” he said, adding that the implementation LAP (local area plan) – V has been executed.

A total of Nu 1.7 billion as been earmarked as capital budget for the thromde for the 12th Plan, according to thromde officials. About Nu 820M will be invested in infrastructure development such as blacktopping of roads.

According to the thromde, development of the existing road from the Gelephu-Dadghari checkpoint to Setikhari into a boulevard road will be one of the major activities in the 12th Plan.

The road will be 3.56-km long and will have a biking lane and footpaths within the width of 24 metres. It is expected to cost about Nu 380M.

As part of its plans to develop recreational facilities, the thromde will construct a City Centre Park at Samdrupling. This park is estimated to cost about Nu 15M for the thromde.

During the 11th Plan, the thromde blacktopped 13.5 kms of roads, installed 1,090 streetlights and executed river protection works among other major activities.

The thromde also constructed some bore wells as a backup facility when floods affected the water pump at the Maokhola. However, the thrompon added that lightning remains a major cause of disruption in regular supply of electricity without which water cannot be pumped even from the bore wells.

“Water shortages arise mainly in the summer because of lightning,” he said.

MB Subba | Gelephu

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