The blacktopping of the 76-kilometre Punakha-Gasa highway is behind schedule. The work began in July last year and was due for completion this July.
Rain is being blamed for the delay. Monsoon lasts for up to eight months in Gasa.
The Damji Sub-Division of the Department of Roads (DoR) says they had to put a halt to the work in April due to heavy rainfall. The work is expected to resume by next week.
Of the 76 kilometres, 44 have been blacktopped so far. Nineteen more kilometres remain to be blacktopped.
The Assistant Engineer with DoR’s Damji Sub-Division, Kezang Dawa, said the stretch from the dzong parking till Baychu area will not be resurfaced immediately due to lack of budget.
He said the previous budget of Nu 5 M was enough only to do the base course.
This stretch was blacktopped about five years ago. The Assistant Engineer added they will propose a separate budget to redo the blacktopping.
The remaining works have been divided into two packages. One package includes blacktopping of 10 kilometres of the road, which has been awarded to a contractor.
Another contractor will carry out the blacktopping of the remaining nine-kilometre stretch.
The proposed budget for the overall work is about Nu 88.33 M.
Even as the work remains on halt, the people of Gasa are looking forward to seeing more visitors once the entire road stretch is blacktopped.
“We hope to get more visitors. The improved road might bring tourists to the Tsachu. People from other districts might come to visit the dzong and sacred sites in Gasa,” the Khatoed Gup, Thinlay Wangdi, said.
Currently, it’s not easy to make it to Gasa, especially during monsoon. The highway sees frequent roadblocks due to landslides and unstable terrain during monsoon.
“The distance from Thimphu to Punakha and Punakha to Gasa is almost the same but taxis charge Nu 600 for the Punakha-Gasa trip, which is Nu 250 more from the Thimphu-Punakha trip. This is because of the bad road condition, which causes damage to their vehicles,” the Gup said.
In 2012, Gasa remained cut off from the rest of the country for about six months following a major roadblock during which a bridge was also washed away.
