The small town in Gasa will soon move to a new location. Ground works at the new township site, Kolikha, is yet to begin but the local business owners are already excited. Gasa is the only district without a township since its separation from Punakha more than two decades ago.
At the current town location, there are more than 30 shops and restaurants doing their business. But all these houses are on government land. Not so far away from the Dzong is Kolikha, the new township site spreading at an area of more than 200 acres.
Thinley Dorji is the first person to run a shop at Gasa. He has been doing business for the last 39 years. Including him, 30 other locals have been granted land kidu by His Majesty The King at the new township site.
“At the new site, we will be able to build a good new house. Here in this small house, the rats are causing a menace. At Kolikha, if we can build a good house, it will save us from a lot of trouble.”
Everyone here have agreed and wants to move to the new township. “We are willing to shift to the new township even if we have to do it in the coming days,” said Wangdi, adding that the houses are small and not good. “The houses here are clustered and in winter, we fear of losing the houses to fire.”
The Dzongkhag wants to make the new township a model town. The town will include car and taxi parkings, bus parking, and a children park among others.
“To preserve our culture, we will build traditional two-story houses not big buildings. We want to show local and foreign tourist this is how Bhutanese culture is. That is why we want to build it as a model town,” said Namgay, Shopkeeper’s Representative in Gasa.
The new town at Kolikha, which will be complete in the 12th five year plan, will become a commercial area, the existing town will be developed as an institutional area.
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