Once a tired old town, Gyalpozhing, has now become a preferred place for business with more government institutions and regional offices coming up in the town. The town’s growth began following the commencement of the Kurichhu Hydropower Plant in 1992. Since then, the town has changed over time.
From smooth roads and a neatly maintained vegetable shed to a football ground on artificial turf among others, the Gyalpozhing town today looks beyond recognition.
From just five shops in 1997, today there are 58 shops. The people attribute the development to the commencement of the Kurichhu Hydropower Plant.
“During 2002 and 2003, there was only one paddy field at Gyalpoizhing. And with the establishment of the Kurichu hydropower plant, the former Dzongda Lhakpa Dorji has encouraged us to sell goods to the labourers working at the construction site of the hydropower project. Before the construction of the project, there was no settlement. Compared to the past, Gyalpoizhing has developed rapidly,” said Dorji, the shopkeeper in Gyalpozhing.
According to the residents, the 7th Royal Bhutan Flower Exhibition, held at Gyalpoizhing in May this year further helped in the development and beautification of the town.
“In the past years, we only had a makeshift vegetable market. But thanks to His Majesty the King, the vegetable sheds got a facelift. And currently, we are making a living by selling vegetables. And our business is also going well as of now. Gyalpoizhing town has developed now. We are grateful that the internal roads have been also constructed and blacktopped and street lights are installed along the roads and footpaths are also constructed,” said Sherab Zangmo, a resident.
“Gyalpoizhing town has developed a lot compared to the previous years. The government has constructed internal roads around the town and it looks so different today,” said Sangay Gyelmo.
Likewise, the inauguration of the Gyalpozihing-Nganglam bypass in 2018 has helped the shopkeepers of Gyalpoizhing to transport commodities within a day from Phuentsholing and Samdrup Jongkhar.
“The construction of the Gyalpoizhing-Nganglam bypass has also benefitted us a lot. When there was no bypass route, the goods from Phuentsholing had to route from Samdrup Jongkhar and Trashigang. With the road connection between Gyalpoizhing and Nganglam, it takes only four hours to reach Gyalpoizhing from Nganglam. Truckers used to take two days to reach Gyalpoizhing from Phuentshogling in the past. The price of commodities has also decreased now,” said Namgay Tshering.
“In the past, we used to take two days to transport goods from Phuentsholing to Monggar via Samdrup Jongkhar. But now we can reach here from Phuentsholing within a day and the bypass route has benefitted us immensely. We can sell goods at a cheaper rate,” said Dorji.
Similarly, Gyalpozhing town is seeing a boom in construction after the pandemic.
“The construction of my building started three years ago and when I was about to do the roofing works, the pandemic hit our country and I did not get labourers to carry out the pending works. So, due to the pandemic, the construction works got delayed by about two years,” added Dorji.
Furthermore, the Monggar district administration has allocated Nu 68.36 M to develop Gyalpoizhing into a lakeside model town which includes a river rafting facility.
Today, Gyalpoizhing town caters to the people of Kengkhar, Jurmey, Saling and Drepong gewogs.
Sonam Tshering, Monggar
Edited by Sonam Pem
