A national development plan is being developed to tackle the issues of rural-urban migration and imbalanced regional development among others.
The use, development and conservation of national land are at the heart of the Comprehsneive National Development Plan (CNDP), which is in its third phase of documentation.
The plan will bring together all relevant policies, plans and programmes of various agencies.
Chhado Drukpa, the Chief Urban Planner with the works and human settlement ministry is the Project Manager. “There are four regions that CNDP is going to look Bhutan through- East, West, Central East, and Central West, and address regional imbalances,” he said.
“The plan will look at climatic and topographic conditions and it divides the country into three lateral divisions. It will specify what is allowed, what should be done, or what kind of development is feasible.”
Guidelines to encourage sustainable rural life will be outlined as well.
The JICA supported project is a derivative of the Comprehensive National Development Plan of Japan. In Japan, since its initiation in the early 60’s, the plan has ensured balanced development of national land.
A seminar was also organized yesterday in Thimphu where a Japanese Professor shared experiences of their national and regional development plans.
The project consists of three phases of which two are complete. The working team has studied the current situations and has agreed on an alternative development.
Currently, various agencies plan and implement policies. With the implementation of this project, they will carry out the planned activities in line with the guidelines of CNDP.
The project is headed by a steering committee made op of secretaries and heads of various ministries and agencies. The committee will approve the draft project, which will be submitted to GNHC and then to the Cabinet Secretariat for approval.
The project is due for completion in December this year, but its completion relies on the release of Population and Housing Census Report 2017.
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