It has been more than three years since works to blacktop the Silambi Gewog Centre road in Monggar started. Today, the works, which were supposed to end in June last year, are far from being complete. Commuters and residents of the gewog are getting increasingly restless due to delays in the completion of the work.
The 65-kilometre Silambi Gewog Centre road starts from Menchugang in Saling Gewog.
The Silambi Gewog Administration and the Monggar District Administration started the blacktopping works in February 2020.
However, some 18 kilometres have not been blacktopped even today.
According to the district engineer, the contracts for the stretch from Tsenzabi to Drogsar and from Drogsar to Thambrang were terminated after they failed to meet the deadline.
The blacktopping work for Tsenzabi to Drogsar was completed recently by a new contractor.
However, works from Drogsar to Thambrang have yet to start. The district engineer says works are kept on halt since they are still trying to resolve the issue with the contractor.
Meanwhile, the people of the Silambi Gewog and other commuters are agitated by the delay.
“The road is fine during winters. But in summer, there are a lot of problems. The road is filled with potholes and there are landslides in most parts,” said Cheten Tshering, a commuter.
“The road between Drogsar till Thambrang is not blacktopped yet. I do not understand why. Even the road at Pang in Saling Gewog is not blacktopped. The people of Silambi and Gongdu Gewogs are frustrated about it,” said Gyeltshen, a resident of Tsenzabi.
Silambi Gup, Dorji Wangchuk said, “Both commuters and vehicle owners are facing problems due to bad road conditions. They have to spend more money to repair and for maintenance for their vehicles. However, we are planning to blacktop the road as soon as possible. We are hoping that the district administration will prioritise the road.”
The Silambi Gewog Administration say that the blacktopping works will be prioritised in the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The works were executed at a cost of Nu 239 M.
Karma Wangdi, Monggar
Edited by Sangay Chezom
