Whose lapse? (REPRODUCTION)

18 February, 2007 – The Thimphu City Corporation has slapped a fine of Nu. 248,634 on the ongoing construction of the new three-storied administrative block of the National Library at Kawajangsa, Thimphu.

City officials said they were fined because works on the administrative block had been carried out without the approval from the city corporation.
The department of culture, city officials said, had given permissions for the construction but by the time the drawings submitted by the National Library was finalised, the ground floor of the administrative block had already been completed.

An architect with the corporation, Tashi Dema, said the amount was charged on the completed work. The National Library would have to regularise the construction within the Development Control Regulation (DCR).

She said that the initial fine was about Nu. 6.6 million when worked out in accordance to the revised DCR. The DCR was revised in 2005.

“But since the fine almost exceeded the amount that actually went into building the ground floor, officials from the National Library asked for reduction,” said Tashi Dema.

The director of National Library, Dorji Tshering explained that they decided to start the construction works without the city’s consent worried that the construction might not complete on time.

The government of India (GoI) had committed Nu. 20 million for the construction of the administration block.

“The grant was for the Ninth Plan because of which the construction had to be completed by June 2007,” said the director.

Dorji Tshering said that he visited the city corporation several times to see if the drawings were approved for the construction to begin. “As it is, much time was already wasted right from the beginning,” he said.

Apart from having to fulfil the bureaucratic formalities, Dorji Tshering said that they lacked technical capacity for which they had to float tenders for consultancy, hire consultants to prepare the tender documents and give architectural drawings on contract.

“I was told that the city would approve the drawings within two months,” said Dorji Tshering. “That would have left us with 14 months to complete the construction and we would have not met the deadline.”

City officials agreed that they could not approve the drawings on time because the construction site was registered under the heritage zone for which no proper guidelines were prepared to assist architects to go about with their works.

The drawings were submitted to the city corporation for approval in February 2006, but was readied only after 10 months, in December.

By Samten Wangchuk
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