The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has started collecting and reviewing documents and criteria related to the National Film Awards. This is after the film director Karma Lhatrul Rinpoche filed a complaint of corruption and collusion against the Bhutan Film Association (BFA) with the ACC last week in relation to the …
Read More »ACC complaint filed against National Film Awards
The 16th National Film Awards has come in for high controversy with a film director Karma Lhatrul Rinpoche, filing a complaint of corruption and collusion against the Bhutan Film Association (BFA) with the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC). The controversy centers on the selection of the best films category, whose top …
Read More »Punatsangchu I to be delayed to Dec 2022 and Punatsangchu II till Sept 2019
In a development that would cause the government to revise revenue estimates and recalculate its expenditure for the next five years, both the 1,200 MW Punatsangchu I (P I) and 1,020 MW Punatsangchu II (P II) projects are expected to undergo huge additional delays. A government official, on the condition …
Read More »Hydro delays to hit revenue and surplus of 12th plan
If all went to plan on the hydropower front, Bhutan would have come closer to becoming a self sufficient economy during the course of the 12th five year plan (FYP) period. But this has all gone ‘topsy turvy’ after the government received a recent report in February 2017 where of …
Read More »Big LG boost in 12th FYP as budget doubled to Nu 50 bn
A big change in the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) is the fact that the preliminary capital expenditure to the local government has been doubled from Nu 25 bn in the 11th FYP to Nu 50 bn in the 12th FYP. Of the Nu 300 bn 12th FYP the capital …
Read More »DNP sets 30th March as auction day for 9 units of Dr Shacha’s building
Dr Shacha Wangmo and her mother Tandin Bidha will be losing nine of their apartments in their building on March 30th 2017. This is because the building is jointly owned by Tandin Bidha’s other daughter Sonam Wangmo who Ap SP alleged took money from him and won a case in …
Read More »EDP 2017 comes with game changing reforms for Bhutan’s Economy
The 2010 Economic Development Policy (EDP) had a lot of grand aims but except for a few areas it failed to achieve most of its targets. The 2017 EDP document learning from the failures of the 2010 EDP has come up with a number of game changing and bold reforms …
Read More »EDP encourages private investment in the Health sector
And in the Education sector too One of the big reforms of the Economic Development Policy 2017 is allowing private investment in the Health sector. The EDP says that selective services in the health sector will be opened to private investment and practices and the government will regulate the quality …
Read More »Tourism tariff rationalization in 2017
The Economic Development Policy (EDP) of the government says that the Tourism Council of Bhutan will draw up a strategy for tariff rationalization by 2017. The EDP says the government shall create conditions to allow more competition and greater choices for visitors which is also code for changing the current …
Read More »Electricity trade provisions in EDP clash with India’s electricity trade guidelines
Three provisions in Bhutan’s umbrella Economic Development Policy 2017 (EDP) dealing with electricity trade clash with India’s 5th December 2016 ‘Guidelines on Cross Border Trade of Electricity,’ issued by its Ministry of Power in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs. The EDP says that a Bhutan Power System Coordination …
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