On 13 August 2022, Thimphu Thromde issued a notification on colouring of roof to be completed before 31 December 2022. Those failing to adhere will be levied a penalty of Nu 50,000.
After Thromde posted the notification on the social media, the comment section was flooded with negative comments.
However, Thimphu Thromde clarified that one of the main causes for confusion with this notification was the statement “existing and new building owners” but “existing” only refers to buildings whose roofs have not yet been painted as majority of the existing buildings do not have painted roofs or their roofs have rusted. According to the Executive Engineer of Compliance and Enforcement Division (CoED) under Thimphu Thromde, Teknath Kararia, Thimphu Thromde has area wise Building Inspectors who will consistently monitor and inspect their areas for the roof colours.
Inspection can also be carried out during Occupancy Certificate renewal, and while building owners apply for other clearances such as property transactions, etc., and they can be penalised if they have not complied with the notification.
He said that it is possible to paint the roofs but adequate safety measures need to be adopted while doing so.
He stated that as per the Development Control Regulation (DCR) 2016, unpainted roofs are not permitted but the majority of the buildings have unpainted or rusted roofs.
“If the public fail to follow the DCR 2016, the matter can be forwarded to the Legal Division,” he said.
As per Thromde, during the 2nd Thromde Tshogde held on 10 September 2021, a proposal for uniform roof colour was submitted as roofs were being painted in many different colours and beginning to look odd.
It was, therefore, determined that all unpainted residential dwellings would have green roofs, while all unpainted institutional buildings would have red roofs. Following this decision, on 8 October 2021, the following announcement was made.
Thimphu Thromde says that despite the fact that it was not specified in the notification, it was decided during Tshogde that building owners would be given six months to comply with this notification. It was also initially decided that the Compliance and Enforcement Division would come up with a sample red and green color to maintain uniformity.
However, shortly after the notice was released, Thimphu went into lockdowns from January to March 2022, preventing Thimphu Thromde from implementing this notification.
This issue was presented again during the 5th Thromde Tshogde on 26 July 2022, when uniform roof colour was considered as part of the Flower Exhibition along Norzin Lam’s agenda. It was again decided that residential building roofs should be coloured green and institutional buildings should be coloured red.
However, it was also determined that if the roofs were not colored by the revised deadline of 31 December 2022, a penalty of Nu 50,000/- would be imposed. This time, however, it was determined that no sample colours would be used as long as they were within the red and green colour range.