The Japanese government has granted about Nu 1.2b (2.494b Japanese yen) as grant assistance to construct six bridges in Bhutan by December 2014.

Bhutanese ambassador to India, V. Namgyel, and Japanese ambassador to Bhutan, Hideaki Domichi, signed an exchange of notes for the project titled, “Reconstruction of Bridges phase-III” on June 19. Ambassador V Namgyel also signed the grant agreement for the same project with the chief representative of JICA in India, Hidetoshi Irigaki. Speaking at the signing ceremony at the Bhutanese embassy in New Delhi, Ambassador V Namgyel said that bridges in Bhutan are priority means to many economic opportunities. “For a landlocked and mountainous country like Bhutan, surface transport is the lifeline of the nation’s socio-economic activity. Therefore, providing inter-connectivity between valleys and dzongkhags is of paramount national importance,” he said.

The construction of these bridges will benefit the Punatshangchu hydropower project as the old bridges on the Wangdue-Tsirang highway will be replaced with bigger and stronger ones, which in turn will facilitate easier movement of heavy machinery and traffic.

He also said that the project will be yet another testimony of the long standing excellent friendship between the two countries and conveyed the deep appreciation of the government and people of Bhutan to the government and people of Japan for their generous assistance.

Source: Kuenselonline