In the next few years, the import and export of goods from Phuentshogling will be made even more convenient for all parties through a mega dry port in Pasakha. The groundbreaking ceremony of the dry port was conducted today.
The 1st phase of the project has already commenced two months back with the construction of 1.2 kilometres of reinforced cement concrete walls. The walls will be built as high as 12 meters from the ground. Other packages in the pipeline include the construction of approach road, refilling of the area, and construction of the infrastructure in the area.
Once complete, the dry port will have the facilities such as cold storage, warehouses, internal banking facilities, offices and residential spaces among others. The dry port will then have the capacity to handle over 100 trucks at a go. It will cater to the export and import service across the country.
“The Pasakha dry port is expected to significantly address the challenges faced by the private sectors such as processing of import and export, transhipment of cargos, long transit time, and the high freight cost for the movement of goods across the border. The port will also help reduce the risk of damages and pilferages to the cargos during the processing, storage and transhipment while providing an improved facility for our traders,” said Sonam Tenzin, the Director-General for the Department of Trade with the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
As of now, nearly 10 per cent of the RCC wall works are complete. The walls are expected to be complete by the end of this year. The dry port worth nearly Nu 2bn will be built in over 15 acres of land along the border and expected to be operational by the end of 2024.
There are 130 workers engaged in the project. Of them, only four are foreign workers. The remaining are the people from nearby areas of Pasakha. Since most people are unskilled workers and 70 per cent of works along the banks of the river, the contractor is worried about the timely construction of the project. The contractor, therefore, applied for an additional workforce from Build Bhutan Project.
Sonam Penjor, Phuentshogling
