Residents of Phuentsholing Thromde opted for experience and re-elected Uttar Kumar Rai, the former Thrompon. He defeated his three other opponents with a total of 336 votes.
He said, “In a normal situation, winning is a source of pride, but when we dig deeper and discover the true nature of winning, the election becomes an additional burden put on our shoulders to represent the people. As a result, I view my victory in the second term as a trusted opportunity provided by my people, with the expectation of further growth and success.”
According to him, the basic necessities is very important whether in urban areas or in remote villages.
“So my first priorities will be to eradicate all the basic problems. Building a strong local economy is another next top priority. There are many such projects which immediately needs attention. I am going to strive hard as soon as I join office,” he said.
He said that in his previous term, his commitment was to provide basic infrastructure and focus more on Local area planning. All the planning has been done and now they are focusing on the implementation.
“Many projects have already started and it may take couples of years to complete all those projects, benefiting the residents and some are in pipelines which will shortly commence,” he said.
He also said that there are several difficulties faced as a Thrompon in executing effective services.
“Among all, the shortage of human resources and financial crisis is one of the major challenges that we encounter which hampers to provide effective services to our residence. There are also other geographical factors like fragile areas prone to landslide and floods every year that damage our built up infrastructure,” he said.
He said, “ Thromde, under my leadership, started out-sourcing most of the Thromde services to private sectors for quality services and for timely delivery. It was in a pilot phase, so the efficiency was not that the desired one but with times, obviously it will improve. And for the development work, we have given all the technical design of all the local Area Plan to the professional consultants. This will definitely accelerate the city’s development from the second term.”
He added, “I would like to thank all my voters for trusting on me and my supporters for their consistent support and motivation. We are all Bhutanese and we belong under the same care and benevolence of His Majesty The King. Given the rude reality we are living in today due to the pandemic, each and everyone’s participation is crucial in this time so that we grow hand-in-hand and contribute to the nation building in our own small ways.”