To delay Commissioning of project by around a month The 720 MW Mangdechu Hydroelectric Project was supposed to spin its first turbine and export power from its first 180 MW turbine on 10th May 2019. The second turbine was supposed to start from 24th May with the third turbine coming …
Read More »DNT checking DNT: Party moves to elect separate Party President and a new Executive Committee
A recent piece of advice by the Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) party to the cabinet on the pay commission report took the government by surprise. At a time when even the DPT and the PDP had not yet criticized the government, its own party consisting of those outside Parliament sent …
Read More »As Hotels proliferate TCB to recommend a relook at Fiscal Incentives
Be it Thimphu, Paro, Phuentsholing or Bumthang, there is a growing crisis of oversupply of hotels leading to dwindling hotel occupancy rates and along with it rock bottom rates. This is also encouraging cheaper tours and budget tourists to come to Bhutan. So far, it has only been hotels owners …
Read More »Bhutanese family not to be deported after online signature campaign and Minister’s action
In what will be good news Kinley Wangchuck (second from right in the photo), an 18 year old student with hearing loss, and his family will not be deported from Australia. Australian Immigration Minister David Coleman MP has used his discretionary powers to grant permanent residency to Kinley and his family. This …
Read More »BRAND BHUTAN or CHEAP BHUTAN : Bhutan being marketed massively in India as part of India’s low cost domestic tourism circuit
Cheaper than many mass tourism sites in India the added incentive for Bhutan is being a cheap foreign destination along with Kathmandu Bhutan has been groaning for a while now with the explosion in the number of regional tourists, with their numbers going from 50,722 regional tourists in 2012 to …
Read More »Extraordinarily high Nu 167.20 mn estimate for 2.5 km road widening project in Lhuentse raises doubts
The cost is higher than that for constructing an entirely new road An anonymous letter addressed to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) with copies to the Royal Audit Authority (RAA) and The Bhutanese raises some serious concerns on the abnormally high estimate of Nu 167.20 mn for a 2.5 km …
Read More »With regional tourists taking over TCB lowers its 500,000 tourists by 2023 target
1.5 bn approved by cabinet for the Tourism Flagship program Until recently, the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) aimed to get in 500,000 tourists by 2023 as part of the tourism flagship program. This is up from the 274,097 tourists that came into Bhutan in 2018. However, the TCB, after …
Read More »Faced with CS outrage Finance Minister clarifies Pay Commission’s report does not reflect Cabinet Position
As per the OAG’s Constitutional interpretation the Cabinet can reject or alter the report In a strategic and deliberate move the Cabinet, on the evening of 9th April, released the Fourth Pay Commission report on the Cabinet website along with a facebook post and tweet from the Prime Minister’s official …
Read More »Fourth Pay Commission shares recommendations to Cabinet
The Hike The Cabinet released the fourth pay commission report which recommends a 14% to 29% pay hike. For civil servants the pay hike recommendation is 14% to 21% hike. It has a higher hike of 21% for O4 to O1 level, 18% for S5 to S1 level, 16% for …
Read More »Study shows vulnerabilities for Bhutan in case of the big quake
A seven-year study on Bhutan’s geo-dynamics from 2011 to 2018 by a combination of internal and Bhutanese experts showed that Bhutan is due for a big quake of 7.5 to 8 magnitude since the last quake of that size was seen only in 1714 and so pressure has been building …
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The Bhutanese Leading the way.