Commuters using the farm road connecting Kidekhar in Monggar Gewog to Drepong Gewog are gratified with the commencement of the blacktopping works on the farm road. However, they say it would be even better if the farm road could be blacktopped till Drepong Gewog. They say this will enable them to travel conveniently to Monggar town via the Kidekhar farm road. Currently, they travel via the Drepong Gewog Centre Road which takes about two hours to reach the Monggar town.
The Department of Surface Transport has awarded the works to blacktop the farm road that connects Kidekhar to Drepong Gewog, worth nearly NU 37 M to a private contractor. The blacktopping is being carried out only until Phujur Laptsa.
And the contractor has yet to start the blacktopping work. As of now works to lay Granular Sub Base, GSB along the farm road between Kidekhar and Phujur Laptsa have been completed. The construction company is currently carrying out drainage construction along the farm road.
Drepong Gewog is about 53 km from Monggar while travelling via the Drepong Gewog Centre Road in Gyalposhing. The distance is only about 18 km when using the farm road.
Residents claim they had been promised that the farm road from Kidekhar would be blacktopped till the Drepong Gewog.
“They promised to blacktop till Drepong Gewog. But now, I heard they will blacktop only till Phujur Laptsa. This has left us unhappy. We will have to bear extra expenditure when travelling via the GC road,” said Jampel, a resident of Laptsa in Drepong Gewog.
Drepong Gup, Sonam Phuntsho said, “In the past DNT, pledged to blacktop about 12 km of the farm road. But due to the pandemic, they said they won’t be able to blacktop all and they have awarded works to a contractor to blacktop only 7 km of the farm road.”
“When we travel via this road we have to maintain our vehicles frequently. We use this road often as we have to sell vegetables and visit the hospital in Monggar. But because of the bad road conditions, we are facing challenges. We will be thankful if this road could be blacktopped till Drepong Gewog,” said Jambay Dorji, a resident of Zunglen in Drepong Gewog.
The Department of Surface Transport clarified that the entire stretch of the road between Kidekhar and Drepong couldn’t be blacktopped due to a lack of budget.
“Initially from the ministry, we have received an instruction to carry out a survey and design works for 11 km of the farm roads. So, accordingly, we have done that and submitted the cost estimates of around Nu 75 M. But since there was no budget we had no choice but to cut it down to 7.33 km,” said Kinzang Dorji, the Chief Engineer of Department of Surface Transport at Lingmethang Regional Office in Monggar.
If blacktopped, the farm road will not only benefit the people of Drepong Gewog but residents of Kengkhar and Thangrong Gewogs.
“If we travel from Monggar to Drepong via Phujur Laptsa road the travel distance will be shorter compared to using the GC road. It is only about 8 kilometres to reach Drepong Gewog when using the farm road,” said Sangay Dorji, a resident of Kengkhar.
The blacktopping work along the farm road between Kidekhar and Phujur Laptsa spanning a little over seven kilometres started in May this year and is expected to be completed May next year.
Karma Wangdi, Monggar
Edited by Phub Gyem
