Construction industry is booming and so is the demand for materials, Sand is one of them. Contractors say, the price of sand keeps fluctuating depending on the transportation cost.
To purchase sand one must get the royalty pass from the Natural Resources Development Corporation. With the royalty pass, you will have to pay a little over Nu 1,300 for a truck load if it is from the stock. If you buy freshly extracted sand you will have to pay only Nu 600. But that is the sand price at the source.
After adding the transportation cost, the price of a truck load of sand can range between Nu 5,000 to Nu 6,000. Sometimes construction owners buy the sand from the truck drivers, who have their trucks readily loaded during emergency. That’s where the truck drivers charge them higher rates.
Damchoe Gyeltshen is constructing a house in Olkaha, Thimphu. He said he has been paying different prices for the same amount of sand when he buy from the truck drivers directly. Many other contractors shared similar views.
According to truck drivers,the difference in prices is due transportation. They said, during summer it is easy to load sand from the piled up stocks without having to wait for long. However in winter, truck drivers have to wait for longer duration till the sand is extracted.
The chairperson of the Natural Resources Pricing Committee Karma Dukpa the transportation cost for sand has been fixed and the truck drivers should charge accordingly. He said the committee has not received any such complaint from the people so far. If caught, the defaulter could face penalty and the sand seized.
