The Department of Roads (DoR) will soon start boundary works for the proposed Education City even while the project is still in its infancy and has not seen any serious interest from developers. Apart from the boundary works, the developer has to bear the costs for technical designing, survey and zonation of the 1,000-acre project area, around 30 minutes drive from the capital toward Paro. The works and human settlement ministry will provide the project with roads, bridges and water supply till the project site. As of now, the survey and design division under the ministry has been conducting several studies on works to be done.
The bridge
One hurdle DOR faces now is regarding a bridge to the site as the approach road is too steep. Due to a gorge at the point where the road diverges from the highway, a 6m raise has to be made but that calculates to a 16% gradient (a 16 unit raise in every 100) which is an engineering impossibility, said Tshering Wangdi A, chief engineer of survey and design division. “The road cannot be constructed beyond 8% gradient,” he added. A ministry official said that, according to the initial design the road was to be constructed from a paddy field, which belongs to the Dratshang Lhentshog. But taking feasibility into account, the authorities came up with another option. “If the road goes through the stream, the gradient will be mild. But it will be quite expensive as it need a massive river protection work; measuring 100 meters,” said Tshering Wangdi A.
The officials from the ministry are awaiting the final decision from DHI, whether to go by the present decision or to come up with a new design. As per the plan, the project will take off from two roads; one from Charkilo with an adjoining bridge and another from Kharupji village. The cost estimates of constructing the road comes up to approximately Nu 115mn. However, the design survey is not yet finalized and the ministry officials are still working it.