The government may have given up collecting Business Income Tax from small rural businesses but rural shopkeepers in the Dzongkhags were surprised to find local Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) officials coming to collect the annual membership fees. Similarly in Thimphu when businessmen and women went to renew …

The National Reading Year initiative received a rude jolt when book stores in Thimphu and across Bhutan started getting charged with an additional 20 percent customs tax in addition to the five percent sales tax they were already paying for importing books from India. In response 11 bookstores in Thimphu …

The Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) is drafting a proposal to liberalize the tourism tariff structure. The final report is expected to be submitted by BCCI to the cabinet by next month. A senior BCCI official said that the ‘Thai Offer’ of discounted tariff rates made to tourists …

For a project whose costs escalated from the estimated Nu 35 bn at 2006 price levels to around Nu 97 bn today, one would have expected the Punatsangchu Hydroelectric Project Authority Management (PHPA) -I  to be more thrifty but an audit report shows otherwise. A joint audit report of the …

Infinity and ILFS will however have to show bills to claim the above In a final step to bring closure to the Bhutan Education City (BEC) project, the government has agreed to pay Nu 99.38 mn to the BEC project developers Infinity and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (ILFS) to …

Yangphel CEO confident of a turnaround with improved approach road  In 2011 the National Pension and Provident Fund (NPPF) and Yangphel Housing partnered together on a ‘Home Ownership Project’ designed especially for NPPF members by starting the construction of 136 apartments in a three acre land in Kabesa, Thimphu. However, …

The Royal Audit Authority (RAA) in its Annual Audit Report for 2014 has pointed out Nu 122.08 mn worth of irregularities pertaining to the Education City project. Of the total, Nu 110.74 mn are observed directly against the Bhutan Education City Secretariat. The RAA report says in a case of …

In response to a question at the monthly meet the press the Prime Minister and Economic Affairs minister both said that the Eastern Development Initiative (EDI), a special initiative to develop the six dzongkhags of eastern Bhutan was already being implemented. Lyonpo Norbu Wangchuk said, “EDI is a big umbrella …

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has said that it would go by the Anti Corruption Commission’s (ACC) decision on the issue of appealing the Lhakhang Karpo case to the High Court. Attorney General (AG) Shera Lhendup said, “As justice should not only be done but must seen to …

Govt also assures that both P I and P II are flood proof and insured After the Lemthang Glacial Lake Overflow Flood (GLOF) that occurred on the Mochhu river on 28th June, the government has decided to go for a reassessment of all 2,674 glacial lakes in Bhutan’s highlands and …