Urban centres like Thimphu is beginning to feel the heat of traffic congestion and limited parking slots with transport infrastructure not keeping up with increasing number of vehicles.
Twenty one vehicles hit the roads of Bhutan, every day.
Almost 9,000 cars were imported in 14 months after the government lifted the ban on import of cars July, last year. Of the total, more than 90 percent were private cars and the remaining few, government and heavy machinery.
The Thimphu City Corporation is not sure if the city can accommodate the number of vehicles if it continues to increase at this rate.
The construction of two multi-storied parking lots, in the capital is expected to solve the parking crunch in the city to an extent.
The two parking lots have the capacity to accommodate 600 cars together. The parking lots will be completed in the next one and a half years. It is being built at the cost of Nu 400 M.
“The only solution to this problem is to migrate to new mode of transportation that is public transport,” said Thimphu Thrompon, Kinlay Dorjee. He said there is a need to increase number of bus services for the public with proper bus stop and shelter.
The municipality is in the process of working to increase the number of busses plying within the city to 60 busses. Today there are 30 city busses in Thimphu.
The city corporation has received Nu 5 M from the World Bank to improve transport infrastructure in Thimphu.
