Residents of Minjey Gewog in Lhuentse are blaming the contractor for the slow pace of laying Granular Sub-base (GSB) materials along their farm road. They also point out that the local authorities should carry out frequent quality audits of the farm road to ensure durability.
The 16-kilometre-long farm road begins from Chenling village and ends at the Gewog Centre. Its first phase of GSB surfacing works and the construction of a drainage system, covering about 11 km were awarded to a contractor in December 2020.
The GSB surfacing works include placing the materials like crushed stone aggregates and sands on the topmost surface of the farm road.
This prevents the road from excessive wetting during the monsoon, thereby not deteriorating the condition of the road.
So far, 85 per cent of the work has been completed. The contractor failed to meet the deadline, which was in October last year, citing COVID restrictions. The district administration has given him a time extension till the end of next month.
Amid the delay, residents say they are affected the most.
“It has been one and a half years since the GSB labelling works began here. But it is taking ages to finish the work. We don’t know what the contractor is doing. We would be grateful if the contractor could speed up the work,” tells one of the residents in Minjey, Jangsem, in a disappointing tone.
Another resident, Wangmo is also unhappy with the GSB surfacing works, which, according to her is taking ages.
“The slow work progress has affected us. Farmers taking milk to the milk processing unit are facing difficulty travelling via this farm road, which is still in bad shape due to incomplete GSB surfacing works.”
The Minjey Gup, Jigme Tenzin Zangpo, says the contractor started the work three months late than their official commencement date. The work was also not up to the mark then.
The Gup further says that the gewog office conducts quality inspections of the works regularly.
The district administration has also handed reminder letters to the contractor to finish the work on time.
BBS Correspondent in Monggar tried to contact the contractor to seek his views. However, he was unavailable for comment. The GSB surfacing works along the farm road are being executed at the cost of Nu 29 M.
The farm road serves as vital connectivity to some 3,300 people in Minjey Gewog. It connects the road leading to the gewog’s primary health centre and Minjey Middle Secondary School.
The government initiated the surfacing of all farm roads across the country with GSB as per of the government’s Economic Contingency Plan during the onset of the pandemic in 2020.
Sonam Tshering, Lhuentse
Edited by Pema Lhaden
