.. drungkhag asks landowners to start construction soon
Kelzang Wangchuk | Jomotshangkha
Of more than 100 landowners in Jomotsangkha town who got lagthram since 2018, only two constructed buildings in the town today.
Another building is under construction and the drungkhag administration approved another.
Most landowners in the town said they have no plans to start the construction because of fewer business opportunities.
A landowner, Tashi, said he has no plan to construct a building in the town at the moment as he has no money. “It would be difficult for us to build as he has no income.”
Another landowner, Sushila Damala, said since the drungkhag has less population, there won’t be tenants. “There are also government houses.”
She said bank interest rates are high. “We wouldn’t be able to pay the loans.”
A landowner, Chimi, said it would help if drungkhag could allow them to construct two-storey buildings instead of three-storey buildings in the town.
Landowners, however, said the drungkhag has potential to become a tourist attraction for regional tourists as it is located near two Indian states of Assam in the south and Arunachal Pradesh in the north.
Jomotshangkha drungpa, Lamdra Wangdi, said the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement (MoWHS) approved the local area plan (LAP) in 2016 and issued lagthram to the landowners in 2018.
He said as per the development control regulations (DCR), landowners should complete the constructions within five years after issuing the lagthram.
The drungpa said the drungkhag administration had been encouraging landowners to start the construction phase-wise if they cannot construct three-storey building at once.
“We told the landowners to start constructing the ground floor and then continue with the remaining floors whenever they get money. We do not force them to construct three-storey buildings at once,” he said.
The drungkhag provided water supply and electricity connection and constructed roads in the town. Internal road and sewerage would be constructed soon.