As part of the Gelephu Mindfulness City’s East-West Highway Project, the Forest Range Office in Gelephu started installing cameras between Gelephu and Taraythang. The cameras will assess the environmental and social impacts of the new road construction project proposed between Gelephu and Taraythang for the upcoming Gelephu Mindfulness City, Special Administrative Region. The new 12 to 15 kilometre four-lane road will reduce travel time between Gelephu and Taraythang to under 15 minutes. The journey takes almost one and a half hour at the moment.
The forest officials are installing 30 cameras between the Gelephu Dry Port, located below the Gelephu International Airport, and the Taraythang Gewog.
The Gelephu Forest Range Office started installing the cameras from 13th of this month and will complete the installation by tomorrow.
The Department of Surface Transport, which will be carrying out the new road construction project for the Gelephu Mindfulness City, had requested the Department of Forests and Park Services to carry out the baseline study on the environmental impact of the new route from Gelephu to Taraythang.
“After installation, we will leave the camera traps for about a month. We will then collect and analyse the footage of wildlife captured in the cameras. That will provide us with data on what needs to be looked into while carrying out works henceforth,” said Tashi Wangdi, Ranger of Gelephu Range Office.
The cameras are installed to collect data on wildlife movement, terrestrial ecology and birds along the proposed route connecting Taraythang and Gelephu. The camera installation project is being carried out with the support of the World Bank.
Karma Wangdi, Gelephu
Edited by Phub Gyem
