The local leaders of Samdrup Jongkhar are worried that construction of Samrang-Jomotshangkha highway might get delayed due to the handing taking procedure between project Dantak and Department of Roads (DoR).
Currently, DoR completed the first cutting of the 47 kilometres highway. The remaining 11 kilometres will now be handed over to project Dantak soon.
The issue was discussed in recent Dzongkhag Tshogdu. According to Langchenphu Gup road construction work is getting delayed due to the handing taking process. He said construction work has been stopped for about 3 months now.
“Dantak will construct only bridges and other permanent structure, later it will be again handed over to DoR for blacktopping. And the process of handing taking over is hampering the works,” Guman Singh Geylal, the Langchenphu Gup, said.
“As gup said the DoR will again take over the work for blacktopping. It is the government’s decision to hand over the remaining road construction. We don’t know the reason,” Jigme Chedup, the Chief Engineer of DoR in Samdrup Jongkhar, said.
The construction of Samrang-Jomotshangkha highway started in 2016.
At present, the people of three gewogs in Jomotshangkha Dungkhag have to travel almost 190 kilometres to reach Samdrup Jongkhar by Indian highway.
“We face problem during strikes in Assam, we are not allowed to travel. So if there is an internal road it will benefit the people immensely,” Tenzin Lungten, the Langchenphu Tshogpa, said.
Three major bridges will be constructed along the Samrang-Jomotshangkha highway. Once complete, the road will reduce travel distance from Samdrup Jongkhar to Jomotshangkha by about 40 kilometres.
Kinley Wangchuk
