The story of Nganglam-Dewathang highway is now turning into reality. Department of Roads (DoR) officials have started obtaining clearance to construct the highway through Arden farm road in Chhoekhorling Gewog.
The Dzongkhag Tshogdu endorsed the plan considering benefits to the people and saving the budget of the government. The agenda was submitted by the Chhoekhorling gup to pave the highway through Arden village. Nganglam-Dewathang highway was first surveyed in the 10th FYP. The plan was to pave the road through Serjem before reaching Yargyewoong chiwog.
Chhoekhorling gup said that if the DoR sticks to this plan, then the huge budget of the government spent on the Gewog centre road and Arden farm road would go to waste.
“Firstly it will have a huge impact on our environment. And it goes through the water source of Chhoekhorling and Yargyewoong chiwogs. As the road goes above the village, there is a high risk of landslides in the future. The one thing we have to think is, the government has already invested a huge amount on the existing farm road and again if we go back to the original plan and repave from scratch the expenses would be too much,” said Tsheltrim Dorji, Chhoekhorling Gup.
“If the additional budget is allocated to continue the road construction from existing farm road the government can save a lot of unnecessary expenses. The leftover budget can be used to develop our dzongkhag as well. Whereas if we stick to the original plan, it will definitely damage the already paved gewog centre road since the surveyed road is above the gewog centre road. This will all be an unnecessary loss to the government,” added Ngajay Dorji, Khar Gup.
The Chhoekhorling gup also added that since the Arden farm road has been reached almost near Dewathang, it will minimize the budget and time as well.
“If the highway is continued from the existing gewog centre road and farm road, it will benefit the people directly and they don’t have to do the cutting works from the beginning. The only work is an extension to highways’ width and it will minimize the expenditure in a huge amount,” he said.
The house found the agenda worth considering and unanimously endorsed to write on the issue to the relevant ministry.
“The dzongkhag tshogdu endorsed the proposal of Nganglam-Dewathang highway construction to continue from the Arden farm road with regards to the agenda from people and gewog administration of Chhoekhorling Gewog,” said Pema Dorji, the chairperson of Pema Gatshel dzongkhag tshogdu.
68 km Nganglam-Dewathang highway survey was initially done in 2012. The project was funded by Asian Development Bank under the South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Co-operation project for the socio-economic and balanced economic development.
