About Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC):
- It is a transformative project to create a new city in the foothills of the Himalayas in Bhutan.
- This visionary city aspires to redefine urban development by placing mindfulness, well-being, sustainability, and cultural integrity at its core.
- The GMC project has been envisioned by the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.
- Located in Bhutan’s southern plains bordering the State of Assam in India and spanning over 4,046 sq.km., or 10% of Bhutan, GMC was established by Royal Charter in February 2024 as a highly autonomous Special Administrative Region (SAR).
- Through this Royal mandate, GMC is accorded full executive and legislative powers, with an independent judiciary, to govern the SAR separate from the Royal Government of Bhutan.
- Under the direct guidance of the King, GMC will be run by global and local talents to build an advanced economy by adopting and adapting the best governing policies and business practices from around the world.
- Features of GMC:
- The masterplan for "Gelephu Mindfulness City" shows a low- to-mid-rise metropolis built around a series of inhabitable bridges.
- Each of the bridges was designed to be combined with cultural, educational, recreational and infrastructure functions.
- Each bridge will "house" key features of the city: a new international airport, a university, a health-care facility for Eastern and Western medicine, a hydroponic greenhouse, a cultural center, a spiritual center, a market for local goods, and a hydroelectric dam, according to the plan.
- The planned city will have eleven "ribbonlike neighborhoods" that incorporate the area's 35 rivers and streams.
- Neighborhoods will be designed like mandalas, with repeated patterns organized around a central public space.
- To protect against flooding, paddy fields will be built along the rivers, “forming urban terraces that cascade down from the hills to the valley,”. These will further function as biodiversity corridors for local flora and fauna.
- The GMC will have two protected areas – a national park and a wildlife sanctuary.
