Residents of Tsirang Toed and Pungtenchhu Gewogs in Tsirang will have to wait another four months for a continuous supply of drinking water. The project, initially scheduled for completion this month, has been extended due to difficult terrain and additional construction work.
The new water supply is sourced from Dhap Tsho, located over 27 kilometres from Tsirang Toed Gewog. Currently, 70 per cent of the work has been completed.
According to the District Administration, transporting heavy pipes along cliffs is time-consuming and risky.
The contractor also needed to construct access roads to facilitate the movement of construction materials.
Consequently, a four-month extension was granted to complete the remaining works, which include the construction of intake and sedimentation tanks at the source and the laying of around five kilometres of pipeline.
Once completed, the project is expected to resolve long-standing water shortages for more than 600 households in Tsirang Toed and Pungtenchhu Gewogs.
It will also provide reliable drinking water to Tsirang Toed Central School and the 10-bedded hospital in the gewog.
Residents say that the growing number of settlements, combined with the difficult geographical location, has worsened the drinking water shortage.
For them, having a reliable water supply sooner would relieve them.
“The drinking water shortage here is very severe. We have to fetch drinking water on a rotational basis. The new drinking water supply will benefit us immensely,” said Dhan Bdr Tamang, a resident of Tsirang Toed Gewog.
Another resident Yeshi Lhamo said, “We are eagerly waiting for a reliable drinking supply from the ongoing drinking water project. We were informed in one of the meetings that it would be completed soon. It would be better if we received the reliable drinking water at the earliest.”
The Adaptation Fund through the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation is spending around ngultrum 120 million for the project.
Once completed, it is expected to permanently address decades of acute drinking water shortages in the two gewogs.
Pema Tshewang, Tsirang
Edited by Sangay Chezom
