The Bumthang town residents are not happy with the Construction Development Corporation Limited’s blacktopping works this year. They say the quality is substandard compared to the roads the Corporation blacktopped last year.
People have no complaints about the stretch of road along the Dekiling to Chagkhar. The Corporation blacktopped the stretch last December.
In May this year, the CDCL resumed the blacktopping works from Chagkhar to Kurje. But the finishing on the two-kilometre road is not as expected. The road is uneven in some areas, rainwater gets clogged, and potholes have developed already.
Namgay Dorji, a taxi driver in Bumthang town said even the drains are not constructed properly adding that the supervisor needs to be more vigilant so that the quality is not compromised. “Due to the monsoon, depressions on the road, especially at the Kakaling stretch, become waterlogged, affecting the blacktop. I think the slope is not maintained on the road. Apart from these shortfalls, the CDCL is doing a good job.”
“I don’t know if the road is handed over to the Dzongkhag administration or not. But if the potholes are left without any maintenance, it is not fair to the public. So we are wondering if the pothole would be maintained or not,” said Tshering Choden, a resident of Dawathang in Chhoekhor Gewog.
As per the revised contract clause, the CDC’s project engineer Jigme Wangchuk said the existing road should not be excavated while resurfacing it. Last year, all the old blacktops were removed and laid with new ones. “It is difficult for us to get a smoother finishing as we lay the blacktop on the existing roads. Moreover, the additional blacktop on the existing road is only 3 cm thick, making it difficult to level the road.”
However, he added, the office will lay a mixture of bitumen and sand and also a silt coat to make the road smoother.
He added the office would cover the potholes as well. “As we were carrying out the blacktopping works, we came across muddy road base. Then the monsoon began, and we had to stop the works as the GSB and WMM gets wet. That’s why the potholes are left like that. However, after the monsoon season is over, we will blacktop all the potholes and hand it over to the Dzongkhag administration.”
At the moment, the blacktopping works have been suspended. They will resume from the mid of August when the monsoon is over.
In the meantime, the CDCL will install streetlights from Dekiling to Jambay Lhakhang and complete the remaining drainage and footpath construction works. So far, the CDCL has completed around 57 per cent of the urban infrastructure development works in Bumthang town.
Kipchu, Bumthang
