Department of Roads as parent agency for highways in Bhutan under
Ministry of Works and Human Settlement has galloped a long journey since the
start of first highway construction in early 1960s. Beyond highways, in the 11th
fifth year plan, department was ushered responsibilities for construction and
maintenance of whooping networks of Geog Connectivity (GC) roads. At the
inception of 12th fifth year plan and thus far, almost all surface
roads construction and improvement were completed; overall the adequacy of road
networks have been accomplished under the dynamic farsighted leadership of the
department. After successful completion of blacktopping of 182 GC roads out of
205, those roads were handed over to Local Government (LG), leaving the
department mandated to focus only on highways.
Nonetheless, journey of further enhancement and development of
transportation system in the country must travel far to the world standards for
enhancement of socio-economic development.
For that matter, as reflected in the current plan document, the next
stage for the department to get engage is in tunneling and underground space
engineering works. Best for the country like ours that is geologically
challenging and mountainous, start of tunneling works shall gear the department
in accomplishing the mission statement of reducing travel time.
The first ever underground/tunnel road (1.50 km) (Video published by Bhutan Tube)was constructed on
Tsirang – Wangdue National Highway by Punatshangchu Hydro project II and
successfully opened to traffic on 25th June 2014.
Since the start of hydro-power plants construction to meet the target
to harness 20000 MW by 2020, Bhutanese in general have seen tunnel construction
in hydro sector only.
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| Highway tunnel on Tsirang - Wangdue National Highway. Photo from PHPA-II website |
Tunneling roads will not only help in reducing travel time, it will
also reduce the current setback triggered by unusual monsoon. Though
the initial construction expenditure will be huge as compared to surface roads,
operation and maintenance costs will be minimum; thereby, the best judgment to
invest in the tunneling works considering the Life Cycle Costing and also the
climate change effect on the roads such as now will be meager.
For that matter, it is time for the government and department in
particular to start groundwork for the tunneling and underground space
engineering knowledge. Ultimately, with tunnel roads that are best suited for
country like ours, transportation system will be in the next level.
Therefore, as an introductory process to tunneling, short course on
tunneling is scheduled on 24th to 27th September at Druk
Hotel, Thimphu. Dr. Manoj Verman, Tunneling and Rock Engineering Expert,
President, Indian National Group of ISRM (International Society for Rock Mechanics
and Rock Engineering) is organizing the course. The course fee is Nu. 17,000.00
(Seventeen thousand only).
I aspire, interested engineers of the nation would participate in the
short course to originate light in future tunnel roads and underground space engineering.
