Some road constructions pushed to 14th Five Year Plan

During the second session of National Assembly, 14th June, 2024, Lyonpo Chandra Bdr Gurung, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport (MoIT) shared that some roads have been pushed to the 14th FYP.

Lyonpo was asked if the government could include the construction of road between Nanglam-Gelephu, Kurigongri- Sherichu, Gayzamchu-Autsho and improvement of Lobesa-Punakha Road in the 13 FYP by Kinzang Wangchuk, Member of National Assembly, Dramedtse-Ngatshang constituency.

Lyonpo shared that most of the above-mentioned roads were discussed for incorporation under the 13FYP.

He said that unlike in the past, the 13FYP preparation was little different as it included both the 13FYP activities and long-term (14FYP) activities.

Ultimately, based on the availability of the resource envelope, and also due to the implementation capacity of the department, some projects were prioritized over others. With this criteria most of the above roads were not included under the 13FYP, but have been pushed to the longer-term plan.

Further he said that the concern of balancing regional development is well considered through the inclusion of projects like Yongkola-Lingmithang, Dewathang-Nganglam, Samrang-Jhomothshangkha, Khotakpa-Tshobaley roads and many other road improvement projects.

In particular, for Nganglam to Gelephu, the ministry has planned to improve the road section between Panbang and Nganglam, and construct a new expressway between Gelephu and Taraythang. This missing link between Taraythang and Panbang has been planned for 14FYP but to improve the connectivity between Panbang and Gelephu, realignment of the box-cut landslide has been prioritized.

The DPR for Gongrizomsa-Sheruchu was completed under the directives of the last government. However, the implementation of the project is not included under the current plan based on the rationale mentioned above.

In addition, he said, as pointed out in the DPR, these roads are not economically viable mainly because of treacherous topographic conditions with mirror-like cliffs comparable to Gyalposhing-Nganglam road, which is estimated to cost exorbitantly high. As there already exists reasonably good connectivity to the Dzongkhags that would benefit from the road, it will be a costly by-pass road with limited benefits.

With regards to Gyazamchu to Autsho, it has been included in the 13th FYP and would study the feasibility of the road and initiate construction if feasible.