The government had received close to Nu 6.98bn in external grants for the 2024-2025 fiscal year as of December last year. The finance minister confirmed this during the Meet the Press session on Friday. This is 40 per cent of the more than Nu 16.5bn external grant Bhutan is expected to receive in this financial year.
According to the finance minister, the total grant includes Nu 12.2bn expected from the Government of India. Of this, over Nu 4.7bn ngultrum has already been disbursed.
Over Nu 4bn is expected to come from other external sources, with 2.2bn already received.
In addition, more than Nu 5.7bn of external project-tied loans are being raised. The government has already secured more than 1.7 billion ngultrum.
The minister said that the Department of Surface Transport has initiated several projects funded by the Government of India. These include the improvement of primary and secondary national highways and district roads across the country.
Additional works involve the construction of key bridges and the surveying of potential railway links between Gelephu-Kokrajhar and Samtse-Banarhat.
Finance Minister Lekey Dorji said, “Works for central schools have started, amounting to about Nu 2bn. Works under India’s Small Development Project, worth around Nu 4.171bn, including the construction of irrigation channels, bridges, integrated water supply, chain-link fencing, chiwog road connectivity, and township development, are also in the initial phase.”
The total expenditure for the 2024-2025 financial year is estimated at almost Nu 90bn.
The finance minister also highlighted several major projects initiated under the 13th Five-Year Plan.
These include the construction of STEM Premier School, a 60-bed hospital in The Pema and the Mother and Child Hospital in Monggar.
He also said that the ministry has allocated Nu 6.8bn for infrastructure projects executed by Project DANTAK.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA is also funding important projects, such as the construction of the Royal Centre for Infectious Diseases at Gidakom in Thimphu.
The total budget allocation for the 13th FYP exceeds Nu 512bn.
Namgay Dema
Edited by Sangay Chezom
