Like most Gewog Centre roads, the Gangzur GC road in Lhuentse is no different. The road has become rough and needs resurfacing. The road was blacktopped in 2016 and gewog officials say the blacktopping started to wear off after a year. For now, the Department of Surface Transport’s office in Autsho has proposed resurfacing work on the damaged stretch.
The 25-kilometre Gangzur Gewog Centre road starts from the district hospital. The road also connects to Kurtoed Gewog.
Today, the road is riddled with potholes. During summer, the road is muddy and these days, it is dusty.
“It is inconvenient for those driving light vehicles. The road has been like this for three to four years. The blacktop is very thin and it started to wear out about a year after blacktopping,” said Thukten Galey, a driver.
“I think the blacktop was not done properly because the road is in bad condition as the blacktop has worn off,” said Thinley Dorji, another driver.
“We carry out vehicle maintenance in Monggar and the vehicle is again damaged when we travel on this road. Nobody is coming here to carry out the road maintenance. We do not know what plans the authorities have for this,” said Karma Phuntsho, who is also a driver.
The Gewog administration has informed the Department of Surface Transport about the road condition.
“When the vehicles have to avoid the potholes, there are chances of accidents. I have informed the Department of Surface Transport about the condition but they said that there is not enough budget for now,” said Tshewang Thinley, the Gangzur Gup.
The executive engineer in the Department of Surface Transport’s office in Autsho said that the initial thickness of the blacktop was only 25 millimetres, and its life span was five years.
But it has been almost seven years, and the road remains a priority.
According to the executive engineer, they have proposed a budget of Nu 42 M to resurface the damaged stretch, which is about 12 kilometres.
He said that for temporary maintenance, the road was resurfaced with a granular sub-base, but it did not last long.
The executive engineer said that the department could not renovate because of budget constraints in the past.
They are hoping that the official directives for resurfacing will come soon.
Namgay Dema, Lhuentse
Edited by Tshering Zam
