Japan Support for Bhutan Judo SAG: Bhutan Judo Small Number High Spirits Bhutanese Judoka Win 4 Medals CWCN Participates in Nepal-Bhutan Friendship Judo Tournament Judo Training Camp Austrian Judo Olympian in Bhutan Bhutan Doubles Medal Tally at SAG Bhutan Prepares … Continue reading
EXPRESSWAY TO BE RE-UPGRADED TO EXPRESSWAY
Kuensel, 30 January 2015 Pedestrians wait for vehicles to pass before walking over a zebra crossing below the Throwa theatre The speed bumps/zebra crossings will give way to pedestrian underpasses Thromde: In a move that may surprise many, Thimphu thromde … Continue reading
EXPRESSWAY DOWNGRADED
Safety first, with speed bumps for drivers and zebra crossings for pedestrians Kuensel – 1 July 2014 Expressway: The Thimphu-Babesa expressway will no longer be called by that name. It will be a part of the city’s urban road network … Continue reading
Expressway’s cursed divider fence
About Nu 269,550 was spent on replacing damaged fencing this year Thromde: Unable to recover the cost of the damaged green iron mesh fencing along the 6.2km Babesa-Thimphu expressway, the thromde is planning to replace the double fencing with a single … Continue reading
RAA slams achievements of McKinsey
RAA: The quality of services McKinsey and Co provided was not commensurate with the amount paid, according to the Royal Audit Authority (RAA) report on consultancy and procurement services. McKinsey and Co. was awarded consultancy works worth Nu 443M, which constituted … Continue reading
RIGHT TO USE VS. RIGHT TO ABUSE
Editorial | Kuenselonline | 18 October 2013 Exceeding speed limits, drink driving and use of cell phones while driving were some of the offences road safety officials have maintained records of and fined offenders. The result of constant monitoring by … Continue reading
It’s Funny, I’ve Actually Only Been To New Jersey A Couple Of Times – Springsteen
Satire – Commentary • Opinion • ISSUE 48•49 • Dec 4, 2012 By Bruce Springsteen When you think of Bruce Springsteen, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Maybe it’s the heartland rock music of your youth, or the E … Continue reading
SOME GOOD NEWS OVER GELEPHU LAND
After my chat with the LRO officer in the Gelephu Dungkhag, and my taste of his total confidence in their committee’s decision and the power of the local government, and the seeming confusion in the rest of the government over the limits of the power of these local governments, I wasn’t sure quite what to do.
It was obvious that the decision was unjust and therefore unacceptable. But it seems pretty often that being right has very little currency in this country. Continue reading
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Tagged abuse of power, corruption, decentralization, governance, incompetence
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NOT JUST CONFUSION
I thought I was just facing a lot of confusion in the cadastral surveys. It seems there is a lot more that I’m facing.
My plot of land with transfer problems has been ‘passed on’ by every committee. They never say no but they never take any action either. They don’t want to take any decision as they see any decision as risky. And they don’t want to help either. My final act to save my land is to appeal to the Gyalpoi Zimpon’s office.
The Zimpon’s office told me to be patient as there are many cases and they will get to my case eventually. That was in September 2012. Continue reading
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THIMPHU’S GREENISH BELT
In 1999, the government under the newly formed CCM decided to create the “Thimphu Structure Plan” (or TSP), the supposed mother of all master plans for the city. This plan introduced a new environmental concept for Bhutan known as the ‘green belt’ river buffer.
The concept drew its ‘legitimacy’ from the Forest Act that disallowed the extraction of any forest natural resources from within 30m of the river bank on. The TSP expanded on the rule by disallowing any development within 30m from major rivers and 15m from streams. It defined ‘development’ as basically anything man made from buildings to electric poles to roads.
The justification for this was to protect the ‘delicate riparian eco-system’. In addition, based on sound environmental logic, many other areas were reserved as protected areas within the city limits. Continue reading
