The government in 2015 made it mandatory for all government constructions to use locally manufactured bricks. However, this is not happening, said MP Ugyen Wangdi in the National Assembly yesterday.
Instead, most of the constructions, he said, are still being carried out using imported bricks. He cited the examples of drains and footpaths along the highways being constructed using imported bricks.
Responding to MP Ugyen Wangdi’s question on why local bricks are not being used strictly in the government constructions despite the requirement to do so , the Works and Human Settlement Minister agreed that not everyone uses it.
Lyonpo Dorji Choden, however, said almost 50 to 60 percent of the government constructions use locally manufactured bricks.
Lyonpo added that the responsibility of checking whether local bricks are being used or not lies with the Construction Development Board (CDB). Lyonpo shared that a report produced by the CDB showed that almost 12 out of 20 places located in the vicinity of local brick manufacturing firms today use local bricks.
MP Ugyen Wangdi also said locally manufactured bricks are often subjected to quality checks, while the imported bricks are not inspected at all. To this, Lyonpo Dorji Choden said a research is underway on the quality aspect of both locally made and imported bricks.
Bhutan currently has more than 50 brick manufacturing firms of which 10 are certified by the Bhutan Standards Bureau (BSB).
