By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Namdrang in Tibetan literally means item, kind, type or category; at present in Tibet it is the name of one of the Chinese Government’s development campaign to destroy all old Tibetan traditional houses in towns and villages alike replacing them with new uniform two storey stone or concrete houses that was implemented since late 2005. At present the government is strongly implementing the campaign particularly in Lhasa Municipality that includes Chushur, Damshung, Lhasa, Lhundrub, Meldro Gungkar, Nyemo, Taktse and Tölung Dechen Counties.
According to Ngawang Chokdrup from Tölung Dechen County, the campaign was launched in 2005 for those who were living along main roads and this year the government is implementing in some villages and plans to implement the campaign in all the villages of Tölung Dechen County in the future. The campaign would be completed by year 2010. It was first implemented in Nechung Township and Gang area because houses were along the main road and people were forced to build new houses. According to Tashi Tenzin from Lhundrub County, the campaign was launched in their county in November 2005 at a township level meeting where the township leader announced that the Government has decided to launch the ‘Namdrang’ campaign under which all households must destroy their old house and build new houses irrespective of whether your house is old or recently renovated or constructed. According to Thubten Tsering from Taktse County, the campaign was launched in their county in March 2006.
For building a new house, you need to get permission from the township center and they give a fixed size of land irrespective of household size and you could build a new house only according to the government regulation. Even though the campaign was launched in same manner in most of the counties, the execution of the campaign at local county level are quite different, in Lhundrub County the government has said that there would be 50% assistance but it was said that in one group of villages the government is giving ‘chamshing’ (timber for small rafters used in making roof). In Taktse County, those who already have good houses might not need to destroy their old houses and could do some renovation but those houses that are not good should destroy and build new houses with financial support from the government that ranges from 14,000 – 17,000 Yuan and some were given only 8,000 – 7,000 Yuan. It is not clear as to why there are such differences in amount of money given.
As in many places of Tibet, it seems like Tibetans in Taktse County have good relationship with local leaders because the campaigns was not harshly implemented and the decision by local leaders was in favor of many households. Even though it was announced that same two storey houses should be build, it is not so in Taktse County because the financial support given were different, some could just renovate their old house and only some had to build new houses.
In Tölung Dechen County, the government was providing financial assistance of 25000 Yuan, this year some households along the main road in Nechung Township Center, Gang Village, Jang Village and Gardhong Village built new uniform two storey houses according to government regulation. According to locals, the actual cost of building such a two storey house is over 100,000 Yuan. In 2005, people could get loan from bank, a maximum 50,000 Yuan interest free loan was provided that has to be repaid 10,000 annually but that too is provided after the bank checks how much farmland, livestock, household items and jewelry does the household have and list them as a guarantee. It is said that this year only 24,000 Yuan is given and 1000 Yuan has been reduced and only 5000 Yuan was given first, the remaining would be given only after completion of house and approval by an official. It was said that the interest free loan has also been cancelled from this year because many people could not repay 10,000 Yuan annually and so the bank is not giving loan for building new house.
Even though some Tibetan households are happily participating in the campaign, the majority of Tibetans did not agree but they are not in position to oppose anything that is carried out by the Chinese Government. Most of the Tibetans do not like the campaign or wish to participate in it because people are facing big financial problem, many had to borrow huge amount of money from private or bank but many do not even find any lenders.
Some households are moving from village to township centers and building new house there. Many new houses have been built, furthermore, there are many constructing and some are preparing to construct new houses.
Some households are suffering losses because they were well off before, they had big houses with many rooms, space for their livestock and have plenty of land but now they have small house. Some households constructed new houses just three years before the announcement of the campaign and now they have to build new houses again according to the new regulation and they are suffering losses because no compensation is given for that.
According to Ngawang Chokdrup, he did not saw any benefit of the campaign so far, instead people are very poor due to heavy loan and almost all those who have built new houses are under huge debts; some households have to stop construction half way due to shortage of money and now those yet to build new houses are planning to appeal to the government for alternative source of money like right to sell off the land of their old house but there is no answer yet from authorities over the matter.
The objective of such a campaign might be to show foreign visitors that China is developing Tibet quickly and Tibetans in Tibet are happy. After talking with all these locals from in and around Lhasa who recently escaped to Nepal, I wonder how justified is this campaign. On one hand the Chinese Government is approximately providing 10-25% of the total cost and on the other hand people are forced to acquire the rest with almost limited or no means; the Chinese Government have always criticized the old Tibetan administration of oppressing people but they are repeating the same thing today after liberating Tibet for over 45 years, oppressing Tibetans and enforcing such unjustified campaigns in the name of modern development.
