The newly completed farm road connecting Serchhenmo village and Wangphu Gewog Centre in Samdrup Jongkhar remains underutilised due to the absence of a bridge over the Nyera Ama river. Villagers are currently forced to walk over an hour or two to reach the Wangphu Gewog centre.
The Nyera Ama river divides Serchhenmo and Haila villages from the rest of Wangphu Gewog. During the monsoon, the river swells, making it impossible to cross.
Without a motorable bridge over the river, villagers rely on a suspension bridge to reach Wangphu Gewog Centre.
“Without a motorable bridge, we face challenges when visiting the gewog centre as all the institutions such as school and hospital are located there. We need a bridge here,” said Khotsha, a resident.
“We are hoping that the government will construct a bridge here,” said Lhatu, another resident.
Arong, a resident said “We need a bridge. We park our vehicles near the river and have to walk. If there is a bridge, we can travel by vehicle.”
According to Wangphu Gup, the construction of the bridge has been proposed for the next financial year, with an estimated cost of around Nu 20 M.
The gup added that the bridge would benefit more than 400 households in the gewog.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
Edited by Tshering Zam
