The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) is seeing its fourth round of thousands of volunteers from all parts and walks of life.
The GMC maybe a project meant to attract international investors, but it now has major buy in and ownership from every Bhutanese.
Knowledge about the project was first shared by His Majesty to important sectors and groups in audiences, and then it was announced to the nation and world on the National Day in 2023.
Since then, it has been heartwarming to see how ordinary Bhutanese have come forward to support the project.
People have not only come forward in the tens of thousands to volunteer free work at the site, but also put in their money for the GMC Airport.
This people’s participation has been led at the helm by His Majesty The King personally working among the people along with Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen, their Royal Children and members of the Royal Family.
This national buy in has only become stronger since the 118th National Day as His Majesty announced that 94 percent of the land in GMC would be issued as shares to the people of 20 Dzongkhags. The capital to back this would be USD 1 billion in Bitcoins.
As this paper pointed out before, this is the biggest wealth transfer in Bhutan’s history.
The GMC is a long term project and for now the first major infrastructure project of GMC, which is the International Airport, is the most important.
The Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has committed to support the project and a railway line and better roads have already been announced from the Indian side.
An icing on the cake would be an early conclusion to Bhutan’s requests for aviation routes from the GMC Airport over India.
“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.” – Jim Morrison