A recent inspection has uncovered substandard construction activities in some gewogs of Zhemgang. Local Government (LG) leaders say the contractors concerned were asked to demolish the structures and reconstruct without delay. A monitoring and evaluation committee visited all the eight gewogs and found out the inferior quality works in drainage, walls and road construction works.
The committee of sixteen LG members found that some tendered works at remote places are of very poor quality. The LG leaders said the inferior constructions could be attributed to malpractice such as subcontract and engineers not present at sites.
“The construction works are mostly undertaken by the class ‘A and B’ contractors and we don’t see any engineers at sites from the contractor side or gewog engineers. And later, we found out that mountain sand was used for drain construction which is not meant for it. So, we were very upset to see such quality of construction taking place,” said Dorji Wangchuk, The Nangkhor Gewog Gup.
“The quality of the work is very poor. We found out that the sand used is not that for construction purpose. But now, the committee has asked the contractors to rebuild it,” said Tshering Tenzin, the Mangmi of Bardo Gewog.
“If the engineers could monitor such practices, it will help us to execute our planned activities smoothly and complete on time and produce quality works. But with no adequate engineers at gewog level, we are at the moment encountering such problem,” said Pema Tashi, the Shingkhar Gewog’s Mangmi.
Meanwhile, the issue was also raised in the recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu (DT). The Zhemagng DT chairperson, Kinzang Jurmey said the monitoring and evaluation committee is formed basically to keep such malpractice at bay and keep track of ongoing planned activities in various gewogs. He said the LG Act, 2009 also mandates a committee to monitor and evaluate all the developmental activities under the dzongkhag.
“Zhemgang has so many activities in the pipeline and we have renovation of farm roads, construction of new farm roads in all the gewogs and we are investing a huge chunk of government fund into all the constructions. So, we are responsible citizen to have accountability and to monitor and prevent such practices from happening. The monitoring system will also benefit providing efficient public service delivery hereafter,” said Kinznag Jurmey, the DT Chairperson of Zhemgang.
During the visit, the committee found out four construction sites in different locations with inferior construction activities. A member also shared his fear that there might be more unreported.
The monitoring and evaluation team’s visit to various gewogs is the first of its kind in the dzongkhag
Pema Samdrup, Zhemgang
