Foreign Minister Lyonpo Tandin Dorji

Water issues to be addressed within this tenure: Lyonpo Tandin

The government shared that water issue, both irrigation and drinking will be addressed within their tenure. They have come with a flagship program on water and they also have allocated adequate budget to address water shortage.

Question on water issue and its progress were raised during Friday meet yesterday whereby Lyonpo Tandin Dorji, Minister to Foreign Ministry said that besides of unemployment, they consider water issue as one of their top most priority. And that is why they have added up water issues in their flagship program.

In addition, he said that water issue has received one of the highest budget among all the flagship programs. Secondly, the visit of Prime Minister to Brussels, Belgium, from June 18-19 to participate in the 13th edition of the European Development Days (EDD) has further strengthened the development cooperation between the EU and Bhutan, Lyonpo added.

During the visit, the EU approved an additional funding of 7.3 mn Euro to Bhutan for the establishment of the National Training Centre for Search and Rescue and the Water Flagship Program.

“Of the total fund by the EU, majority of the fund will be going towards water issue. We are talking with many agencies and specialist about the new water technology to bring in a modern technology,” Lyonpo added. He also said that Bhutan has adequate water but money alone can’t do anything, they need technology as well to address the issue. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forest is working onto it and they have put in adequate money for the water flagship programs, which includes both drinking and irrigation water.

Now what they need is required technology, Lyonpo said, adding that this is one of the biggest challenges. However, he said that once the flagship programs take off, it will definitely have changes, but it takes time when solving the water problems.

“Mapping of water sources has been done from the previous government whereby now we know all the water sources. Now it is how to get the water to people when required. We know there are lots of expectations for us to solve this problem immediately but we are aware of the hardship that our people are facing,” he added.

Nevertheless, Lyonpo said that it will take time and they are confident that in their tenure they will ensure that what they have promised will be fulfilled. They have allocated the budget, they will bring in technology and they will soon implement the flagship programs on water.

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