Bhutan Birding and Heritage Travels

“The new machine from Norway will help road construction work be completed on time,” said the roads director general, Sangay Tenzin. “Maximum time is consumed on foundation cutting and, once the cutting is done with the new driller, the other work will be easier.”

One drilling set costs Nu 10m.

On July 23, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba told the Assembly that 5,362 km of motorable roads in Bhutan was at the moment enough, given the size and the terrain of the country.

“The problem with road work is a lack of technical capacity, especially shortage of professional engineers, who can handle work efficiently,” said the minister. “We can’t afford engineers from outside, as they need to be paid five to six times more.”

The minister said that engineers and contractors will be given more authority to carry out development work but will also be held accountable. “Government will take timely action against engineers and contractors not performing and they won’t be awarded work next time,” he said.

Director general of roads department, Sangay Tenzin said that 50 percent of roadwork to be done would have to pass through rocks, which was the reason for construction delays. “The new drilling machines will address this problem,” he said.

Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba also said that the government would work on speeding up delays related to obtaining environment clearance certificates.