SARBHANG

LONG OVERDUE: Bhutan’s third urban centre awaits connection to sewage network

24 December, 2009 - Residents of Gelephu, the third largest urban centre in the country to have a modern sewerage system after Thimphu and Phuentsholing, are not so keen to have one.

Residents, who were asked by the municipal to pay for their sewerage connection, say that the government is giving them “stepmotherly treatment”. “In big towns like Thimphu and Phuentsholing, building owners didn’t have to pay anything,” a building owner said. “In Gelephu, we don’t have much income and we have to pay.”

Building owners will have to pay from Nu 30,000 to more than Nu 100,000 to connect the sewerage in accordance with their network. “From where will I bring the money,” said a building owner, who was told she would have to pay about Nu 70,000 to connect her two-storied house to the sewerage system.

The Nu 26mn DANIDA funded 18-month project to lay a network of underground sewer lines in the core area of the town and connect 350 households to the network was supposed to be completed in February 2008. The delay has frustrated town residents, who say that Gelephu is turning out to be a sick town.

The process of implementation went wrong from the initial stage, said a restaurant owner. “The work took too long to complete and now they’re taking too long to connect.”

At present 34 governmental buildings in the town are being connected to the sewer network, while the municipal, according to the municipal officer-in-charge, Chophel Dorji, has worked on the cost estimation to connect the sewer networks of 50 plots.

Chophel Dorji said that house-owners were not at all cooperative. “We had to call them for one meeting three times,” he said, adding, “Whenever we call them for a meeting, only a few turn up to complain about the charges.” People should have raised that issue when the municipality discussed it at the initial stages in 2007, he said.

The municipal is not in a position to give them free connection since it was not in DANIDA’s commitment.

But building owners say that they were not aware of it before.

The municipal officer-in-charge said that the 50 plot owners were asked to endorse their estimate by December 31. “So, if they don’t turn up, we’ll assume that they endorse our estimate and we’ll ask them to deposit the money,” he said. “After that we’ll tender it and then the connection work will start.”

Gelephu town is spread over an area of eight square kilometres and has about 900 households. Once connected, the sewerage is expected to improve hygiene and sanitation in the town.

The sewer network will flow into a Nu 34mn treatment plant at Pelrithang, about 400 m from the Indo-Bhutan border.

By Tashi Dema in Kuensel

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