People of Minjey in Lhuentse are asking the government to justify the deferment of the plans to construct a secondary national highway to connect Lhuentse and Trashi Yangtse. The plan, according to residents, would benefit the two Dzongkhags in terms of ease of business and would also promote tourism in the region.
According to the local leaders and some residents of Minjey Gewog, the government carried out a survey in 2018 to construct the secondary national highway between Lhuentse and Trashi Yangtse. However, the project remained only in the paper as there is no execution of work yet.
Tashi Norbu, the Minjey Gup, said without any updates on the construction works from the government, people have been raising their concerns to the local leaders. He said the motor road would not only benefit the eight gewogs of Lhuentse but some parts of Monggar as well.
They have been waiting for the government to start the works soon after the survey was carried out. And as per directives they also contributed labour in clearing works for the construction of the secondary national highway.
“Officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) from Thimphu visited the gewog to carry out the survey to construct the secondary national highway. They had also asked us to contribute labour tax and we did it by felling trees for almost two weeks till the territory between Lhuentse and Trashi Yangtse,” he added.
According to the local leaders and residents of both the Dzongkhag, having road connectivity between Lhuentse and Trashi Yangtse would shorten the distance between the two dzongkhags and it would also benefit people going on pilgrimages and promote tourism in the region.
“For instance, in the earlier days, we used to bring rations for armed forces to Lhuentse via Dongla. As Gudama in Samdrup Jongkhar is too far from Lhuentse we used to visit Trashigang on a business trip through the old route. We had also visited Trashi Yangtse on pilgrimage. If there is road connectivity between the two dzongkhags the scope of tourism in the region will also increase,” said Kuenzang Tobgay, a resident of Minjey.
Local leaders of both the Dzongkhag said if the project doesn’t come through, the preparation work such as clearing of bushes by the farmers for over two weeks would go to waste.
However, according to the Works and Human Settlement Minister Dorji Tshering, no survey was conducted so far. He said it was just a preliminary work carried out by the Ministry in 2018. He also said that the government has no such plan to construct secondary national highway as of now. Moreover, he added that in terms of cost-benefit analysis, starting such a project would cost more than the benefits.
If at all the project comes through, the road between Lhuentse and Trashi Yangtse would be reduced by more than 100 kilometres.
Sonam Tshering
