The Works and Human Settlement (MoWHS) Minister said there is no budget allocated for maintenance of gewog centre (GC) roads in the current financial year. With reports of worsening conditions of GC roads from across the country, the government is looking for an interim measure to solve the issue.
The roads are to be maintained by the respective dzongkhags and gewogs upon taking over the road, on completion, from the Department of Roads (DoR). But owing to lack of budget, dzongkhags and gewogs couldn’t maintain the roads.
For instance, the GC road of Goshing in Zhemgang is in dire need of maintenance after the last monsoon. The eight-kilometre GC road was constructed in 2017. There are 230 households and more than 3000 people in Goshing Gewog depending on the road. Today the road is rough and bumpy along some stretches posing risk to commuters, especially during the night.
“The road has been damaged heavily and we are encountering a serious problem. We have submitted several reports to the concerned authorities and the relevant departments regarding the damages and also expressed the need for immediate maintenance. But till date, we didn’t receive any support from them,” said Zangpo, the Lamtang Chiwog Tshogpa under Goshing Gewog in Zhemgang.
“The DoR did not repair and maintain our road for quite a long time and I don’t know who is responsible,” added Tashi Wangchuk from Goshing in Zhemgang.
The government decided to handover the GC road to dzongkhag and the Local Government in the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP). Following this decision, the Department of Roads handed over the Goshing GC road to Tingtibi and Zhemgang Dzongkhag. However, some local leaders in the dzongkhag claimed that they did not receive any budget or technical expertise for the maintenance of the GC road.
“At present, the DoR has all the facilities given by the government like manpower and machinery, etc. Even if Dzongkhag has taken over the GC road, if provided with same resources such as manpower and budget to the Dzongkhag, we can manage the road like DoR,” said Bardo Gup Kinzang Jurmey.
“It is not the question of whether we can do it or not but we need enough technical expertise and budget. It is for the benefit of our people but we have a serious problem of lack of manpower,” added the Bjoka Gup Tshering Wangchuk.
The Works and Human Settlement Minister, Dorji Tshering said the government will allocate the necessary budget for road maintenance from the next financial year.
“We have Gewog Annual Grant across the gewogs and we also have the Common Minimum Infrastructure (CMI) fund in Dzongkhags. For an interim measure, it will be convenient for the gups to use fund from that. That’s what we have been discussing. Starting next financial year, we are going to continue what was practised. The Nu 44,000 for a kilometre in a year will be sanctioned to the respective gewogs to maintain the GC roads,” Lyonpo said.
Ministry of Works and Human Settlement will be handing over all the GC roads to the dzongkhags and gewogs by the end of this year.
Pema Samdrup & Samten Dolkar
