Partner Agreement signed with WMI, France

Supporting Livable and Resilient Cities, and Affordable Housing in Bhutan

Cleaning Campaign coinciding with ‘World Environment Day’

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MoM Signing with the JICA

Launch of Technical Project Report

Awareness Workshop on Human Settlement Planning and Principles

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Content

The Comprehensive National Development Plan for Bhutan 2030 (CNDP) was launched on 28th June by H.E. Zhabtog Lyonpo, Ministry of Works and Human Settlement, the Chief Representative of JICA, Mr Kozo Watanabe, and Director of the Gross National Happiness Commission, Mr Rinchen Wangdi.

The program was attended by members of the National Assembly and national council, diplomats, local government offi-cials, civil society organizations and development partners.

The Ministry’s website won the 3rd prize in the National Website Competition for the year

2018-19 from a total of 134 websites evaluated.

3rdplace

April–June| 2019

Supporting Livable and Resilient Cities, and Affordable Housing in Bhutan

Partner Agreement (PA) signed between the Gross National Happiness Commission, Department of Engineering Services (under MoWHS) and Water Management International, France

The pilot Project for strength-ening the capacity of urban water services in Bhutan is a partnership between the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement (MoWHS) and Water Management International (WMI) – a spe-cialized water supply com-pany in France - that aims to strengthen the efficiency of water supply systems by reducing water losses in Thimphu and Phuentsholing Thromde. To this effect, the Partner Agreement (PA) was signed between the Gross National Happiness Commission, Department of Engineering Services (under MoWHS) and WMI on 24th May, 2019, in presence of officials from MoWHS and GNHC.

The Project will provide tech-nical assistance and local capacity building for better water supply management to the staff of the two Thromde administrations to control and reduce water losses in their distribution systems for which pilot areas with 15 to 20 km of pipe network have been identified in the

two Thromdes.

Water audits will be undertaken in the supply systems using specialized equip-ment to establish the water balance based on the stan-dard of International Water Association, following which WMI together with the Thromdes will establish, for each pilot area, preliminary action plans that aim at reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) and increasing water man-agement efficiency. These action plans will be inte-grated with the Water Flagship Program and imple-mented by the respective Thromde during the 12th five year plan. The outcome of the audits will serve as base-line for WMI to develop rec-ommendations for MoWHS to increase water supply efficiency at all municipal level across the country.

To establish local training capacities on water sup-ply efficiency and related good practices, the Project will build the capacities of

at least five engineers from the two pilot Thromdes and MoWHS. They will be qual-ified as master trainers after at least 10 days of theo-retical and practical train-ing sessions in Bhutan and will be capable to train the management and technical staff of municipal water ser-vices in the area of efficient water supply management.

The approved budget for the Project is Euro 400,000/- which is supported by the German Development Agency (GIZ) (50%) and WMI (50%). The duration of the Project is 2.5 years that is effective from the date of singing the PA.

The report, containing the final versions of the Bhutan Urban Policy Notes, was handed over by the Resident Representative, World Bank Country Office, Mr Yoichiro Ishihara, to the Secretary, MoWHS in the presence of officials from both the WBCO and the MoWHS

Director Karma Dupchuk, DES, and Mr. Antoine Erout, Managing Director, WMI exchanging the Partner Agreement

Development of urban areas in Bhutan can contribute to sustained economic growth and provide for safe and resilient cities with afford-able housing, if it is sup-ported by smart policies and investments, says new World Bank report titled “Bhutan Urban Policy Notes”.

The spatial-economic trans-formation in Bhutan is largely driven by the economic opportunities offered by its cities. However, Bhutan’s four largest municipali-ties suffer from inadequate infrastructure and service delivery, shortage of ser-viced land and affordable housing, and environmen-tal pollution. They lack the

livability and competitive-ness and fail to provide the required number and quality of jobs for their residents.

Based on the review of policy documents and census and survey data, the new report examines four priority areas which are regional devel-opment, municipal gover-nance and finance, urban resilience, and affordable housing. The report pro-vides an assessment of the current policy for each of the four areas and identi-fies critical challenges that Bhutan may face in harness-ing urbanization for sus-tained economic growth.

The report also provides

short- and long-term pol-icy and investment rec-ommendations to address these issues. These include:

• identifying and clarifying the complementary roles of national and local governments in the areas of prioritizing capital investments, improving the overall investment climate, and ensuring equitable access of citizens to basic public services, especially health and education;

• implementing further reforms for decentralization and strengthening of local governments;

• mapping the Pg 5

Sonam Jamtsho, Dy. Executive Engineer, WSD

Tshering Dorji, Dy Chief Planning Officer, PPD

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April–June| 2019

On 5th June 2019, Department of Roads (HQ) and Regional offices under the department observed the World Environment Day on 5 June by organizing waste collection along the high-ways and by creating aware-ness on the importance of waste management. The mass cleaning was carried

out along the highways from Semtokha Mani -Dungkhor to Dochula by officials of DoR, HQ and Thimphu Regional office. The rest of the Regional Offices under DoR also carried out mass clean-ing along the respective high-ways under their jurisdiction.

The issue of waste

management has been a growing concern in the coun-try, and especially along the Roads and Highways. Disposal of wastes along the highway is happening rampantly and serious con-cern have been raised.

The total waste of 60 tonnes was collected.

The Minutes of Meeting for SDGs Business Verification Survey with the private Sector for Road side slope disasters countermeasures technology and methods in the Kingdom of Bhutan was signed between the Director General, Department of

Roads, Chief Representative, JICA, and the President of PROTEC Engineering INC on 29th May 2019.

The survey will be imple-mented under the frame work of SDGs Business Verification survey with

private sector as a part of the JICA’s public-pri-vate partnership programs to demonstrate Japanese enterprise technologies that respond effectively to spe-cific development challenges.

JICA Chief Representative Mr Kozo Watanabe (centre left) and to his right Director General, Department of Roads share the MoM.

Mass cleaning campaign organized by the Department of Roads and its regional offices to mark the World Environment Day.

MoM Signing with the JICACleaning Campaign coinciding with ‘World Environment Day’

urban hazards and integrating disaster risk

management into the urban planning process, to address growing risks from natural disasters and changing climate; and

• expanding access to quality affordable housing opportunities, inlcuding the quality of construction material and

access to basic services.The Bhutan Urban Policy Notes support the World Bank’s policy dialogue with the government on prior-ity areas outlined in the 12th Five Year Plan. The report’s findings and recom-mendations were informed through broad consulta-tions and feedback received from the government and

civil society representatives.

The report, containing the final versions of the Bhutan Urban Policy Notes, was handed over by the Resident Representative, World Bank Country Office to the Secretary, MoWHS in the presence of officials from both the WBCO and the MoWHS.

Supporting Livable and Resilient Cities, and Affordable Housing in Bhutan

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Sonam Yangzom, Assistant Engineer, DoR

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April–June| 2019

The Department of Human Settlement con-ducted awareness program to promote understanding of human settlement plan-ning principles to ensure effective imple-mentation of development controls, to architects, engineers, and local govern-ment leaders in Bumthang, Mongar and Trashigang. The program is also con-ducted to make developers and designers aware of the new rules and regulations.

The program highlighted and explained the planning principles, techniques, rules and regulations, executive orders and guidelines pertaining to human settle-ment that were issued by the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement. Specifically, the following presentations were cov-ered during the awareness program;

• Bhutanese Settlements and its changing scenarios.

(Highlights Traditional Bhutanese Settlements and how it is changing

over the period of time).

• Settlement Planning Principles.(Highlights general planning principles and techniques adopted while preparing a plan).

• Bhutanese Architecture Guidelines 2014.(Highlights Traditional Bhutanese Architecture and Contemporary Architecture)

• Bhutan Building Regulations 2018.(Highlights procedure and require-ment for Construction Approvals and penalties for deviations).

• Building Color Code 2014.(Covers the color allowed for the build-ings in respective areas or Dzongkhags).

Awareness Workshop on Human Settlement Planning and Principles

Launch of Technical Project Report

H.E. Zhabtog Lyonpo (middle), Resident Representative of World Bank Bhutan, Mr. Yoichiro Ishihara (right) and Mr Tougay Choedup, Executive Secretary, Samdrup Jongkhar (left)

Awareness program being conducted in Mongar (left) and Trashigang (right)

Sonam Dorji, Urban Planner DHS

Bawana Chhetri, Chief Urban Planner, DHS

The Technical Project Report on Climate SMART Human Settlement Planning and Development in Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde was launched jointly by the Hon'ble Zhabtog Lyonpo and the Resident Representative of World Bank Bhutan, Mr. Yoichiro Ishihara on June 28th, 2019 at Taj Tashi, Thimphu. The project, which was carried out under the Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR), was led by the GNHC and

funded by the Multilateral Development Banks with the World Bank as the lead bank. The officials present at the launch included the Executive Secretaries from Samdrup Jongkhar and Gelephu Thromdes, officials from the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement and relevant stakehold-ers from various agencies. The project has been car-ried out in-house by the DHS with task force from the MoWHS and Samdrup

Jongkhar Thromde.

The report contains short and long term recommen-dations to improve the pub-lic facilities and amenities in Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde for climate resiliency, and a Climate Resilient Framework to guide the development of the Thromde to build cli-mate resiliency. The project will be piloted in Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde first and slowly replicated in other Thromdes at a later stage.

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The Ministry’s website won the 3rd prize in the National Website Competition for the year 2018-19, from a total of 134 websites evaluated.

The main objective of the National Website Competition is to make all the government website uniform and make it easily accessible and usable to citizen and also to improve the quality of websites nationwide and encourage webmasters and agencies to make it one of the primary sources of information and services for citizens.

The national website competition was started from November 2018 till March 2019 where two round of evaluation was carried out. The evaluation for the fi rst round was carried out at the Department of Information Technology and Telecom (DITT), Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC) by nine independent evaluators from diverse government agencies including DITT, while the evaluation for the second round was carried out at Paro.

A total of 134 websites comprising of government, corporate and interested private agencies were identifi ed for the evaluation. The evaluation was carried out against the following evaluation criteria viz aesthetics (appearance, usability and reliability), technical suitability (security and uptime) and effective use (content and currency).

The Ministry congratulates the Dzongkha Development Commission and the Ministry of Finance for securing first and second position respectively

Published by:Policy and Planning DivisionMinistry of Works and Human SettlementPo Box 791, Adjacent to Police BuildingThimphu : Bhutan

Email: ppd@mowhs.gov.bt