The pandemic has delayed the completion of Bajo-Khuru Secondary National Highway widening work in Wangdue Phodrang. The deadline for the road widening project is extended by two months. It was otherwise supposed to be complete by the end of next month.
After blacktopping around three kilometres of the road, the widening works came to a halt today. The project is awaiting hume pipes to be installed along the highway. According to the contractor, bringing in raw materials is taking way too long due to the pandemic.
“We cannot carry out any other works without the hume pipes. After installing the hume pipes, we have to construct the base course and then blacktop. All these works are on halt because we don’t have hum pipes,” said Tshering Dorji, site Engineer.
Besides, the labour shortage is also hampering the work progress. The project recruited a few Bhutanese workers to work at the site. But most of them left. The contractor says there is no way they can bring in labourers from India amid the pandemic.
“The local labourers carried out wall construction and blacktopping works. But they had to leave for paddy transplantation works in their village. So, we have only a few workers,” said Birkha Bahadur Labar, the contractor undertaking the highway widening works.
As of today, around 70 per cent of the 8.6 kilometres Bajo-Khuru Secondary National Highway widening work is complete. The highway is expected to shorten the travel distance between Bajo and Khuruthang and also minimize the traffic flow between Wangdue bridge and Lobesa.
ChangaDorji, WangduePhodrang
