Asian Bank Announces 34m US Dollar Loan for Bhutan Road Construction
Text of report by Gopilal Acharya, published in English by Bhutanese official newspaper Kuensel website on 13 September
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed a loan of 34m US dollars, including the 20 per cent government input, for expanding the ongoing rural access programme of building feeder roads to villages. The third and the largest in a series of loans approved by the ADB so far, the money will be used in building four new feeder roads and in realigning the Trongsa-Gelephu highway.
The four feeder roads include the 35-km Karthungla-Kangpara road under Trashigang Dzongkhag [district], the 52-km Gorbagthang-Autso road under Mongar and Lhuentse Dzongkhag, the 6.5-km Tekeyzam-Jhena road under Wangduephodrang Dzongkhag, and the 17.5-km Meritsemo- Bongo road in Chukha Dzongkhag.
The director of the roads department under the works and human settlement ministry, Phuntsho Wangdi, told Kuensel that selection of the areas of intervention was based on factors like remoteness of the community, benefits the road would bring to the community and priority ranking according to the department’s road master plan. “New roads identified under this loan are well balanced across the country extending from east to south-west,” he said. “Although some of these roads didn’t feature in the ninth plan they were found eligible based on the selection criterion.”
The fifth intervention identified under the project will improve and realign the 244-km Trongsa-Gelephu highway. The present highway, which doesn’t meet the standards of national highway, will be upgraded, shortened and expanded. The two temporary bridges will also be replaced with permanent ones. The 16-km realignment between Wangdigang and Tingtibi is expected to shorten the highway by about 50 km bringing down the total road length to less than 200 km. “In the past we avoided cutting through rocks and cliffs which resulted in lots of curves. But now we are determined to bulldoze through,” Phuntsho Wangdi.
The project, whose implementation duration is more than five years spilling into the tenth plan, will be carried out by the local contractors based on local competitive bidding procedure. All designing, survey and investigation will be carried out by the local experts. “We will involve international experts only if highly technical inputs are required,” said Phuntsho Wangdi.
The department also aspires other indirect benefits through the project. Amongst others, it expects to improve its project management skills and capacity and perk up asset management capacity. The latter means the department’s ability to pick out information from the ground and process it. “The government and people have realized that road access primarily brings other developments in community,” said Phuntsho Wangdi.