Bhutan government’s proposed reform upsets contractors

Bhutan’s contractors are not happy with government’s proposed reform to improve the country’s construction industry. Many fear that the new point-based evaluation system would encourage favoritism and corruption and would further delay the works of 10^th five year plan which was initiated in 2008 and would continue all the way to 2013.

Wangdi Gyeltshen, Executive Director, Construction Development Board, said that Construction industry is the oldest industry of Bhutan but it did not see much growth over the year despite getting maximum budget from the government. Hence, the reform has been introduced.

Wangdi Gyeltshen said that the new system would nil the possibility of making any “guesstimate” on the part of the bidder. Earlier, government officials used to reward projects to the contractors with the lowest bid but often they failed to complete the project in time. Under this new system, contracts would not be awarded based on highest or lowest bidding but to contractors who would come up with innovative and efficient systems to complete projects.

Officials of the Human Settlement Ministry said that the resistance to the reform came from a small group of contractors and none of them from the top construction companies in the country. In the last consultation meeting, about 55 participants appeared and there were no representatives from the top contractors of the country.

Foundation of Bhutan’s First Medical College Laid by Bhutan and Indian PMs

Foundation of the first medical college in Bhutan has been laid jointly by Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley and Dr Manmonhan Singh, prime ministers of Bhutan and India respectively, on Friday. Bhutan institute of medical sciences (BIMS), as it has been named, will start its academic program by July 2011 and have two campuses- one at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) complex and another one at Serbithang complex. The project will be funded by the government of India.

BIMS will work as an autonomous body which will be run separately from the royal university of Bhutan.

Kuenselonline reported:

According to project coordinator of BIMS, Yenten Jamtsho, construction will begin only after a detailed project report has been drawn up by consultants from India, who are expected in the country soon.

Existing buildings at the JDWNRH complex will be renovated into pre clinical departments, and new structures will be built to accommodate facilities that cannot be housed in the existing buildings.

The Nu 250M construction project, funded by the government of India, will be awarded to a Bhutanese contractor, with a project implementation authority to oversee the work.

The college will be built at par with standards approved by the Indian and Bhutanese medical councils, and will have to fulfil criteria such as setting up 20 departments.

The medical college will open up a new opportunity for the Bhutanese students. More than that, Bhutan’s medical sector is also expected to be developed. It will have 20 departments to fulfill the requirement of the medical councils of the two countries. Primarily, BIMS will admit 50 students of which 30 students will be from India as par the MOU signed last year between the two countries.

SAARC Summit 2010: Bhutan Comes Under the Spotlight

Except Indian Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, the other leaders from the region have already arrived in Bhutan for the 2010 SAARC Summit. I wish that there was some information about the Summit in the SAARC website. Anyway, this time, the event is taking place in Thimphu, Bhutan. Thimphu is a small city with just around 100,000 people. Naturally, it does not have the necessary infrastructures to accommodate such a big event. For example, it has become some sort of a logistic nightmare to accommodate nearly 300 journalists who are going to cover the event. Naturally, all the journalists will not be able to gather at the same time at the same place to collect news.

You may wonder why so many journalists have come to collect news. Well, SAARC Summit 2010 is a very important event for the 8 countries of South Asian region. This event has national importance for countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. All these 3 countries have flourishing and vibrant media.

Of course, the media people will focus mainly on the Summit. However, I think that some of them will try to know about Bhutan more and write about the different aspects of the country. For example, if I could go there, I would perhaps write more about Bhutan than the SAARC Summit. I am attracted towards this country and its people a lot. I hope that with this Summit, we will know a lot about Bhutan and its people. 

Bhutan and the Happiness Niche in Business World

Chip Conley has written an excellent article in Huffington Post: What Business Leaders Can Learn From Bhutan. He has praised the goal of increasing Gross National Happiness by Bhutanese Government instead of focusing too much on Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Chip Conley thinks that business leaders can learn from this matter. He thinks that small business owners should try to learn from Bhutanese example. You know that small business owners often have a rough time in competing against the big companies.

He is right because from my own experience, I know that it is very difficult to survive as a small business owner. Mr. Conley thinks that the best strategy for small business owners should be to focus on a small niche that they like and try to be the best in it. After reading his entry, I realized that I have to do the same thing. I have been trying to manage a small blog network of 14 blogs and it put a lot of stress on me lately. Today, I realized that I should just focus on the blog that I enjoy most and really I enjoy this South Asia Blog most.

Nothing brings me more happiness than seeing this blog to succeed because I live in this part of the world. So, I am going to learn from the Bhutanese example. 

Broadband Internet in Bhutan to Become more Affordable

For many years, Bhutanese government officials and decision makers tried to keep the country out of the touch of modern technology. As a result, the country has its first cyber café only in the year 2000. At that time, it was very expensive for the people to have any kind of access to Internet. Now, it seems that the decision makers have realized that some technologies like computer and Internet do not create problem for people to become happy. As a result, now, there is even some subsidy on making broadband technology more affordable.

Kuensel Online reported:

In a move to speed up the process of making broadband internet universally available and affordable, the government has decided to subsidise the installation of optical fibre composite overhead ground wire (OPGW) throughout the country. This will cost the government Nu 950m. The grant will allow the leasing rates of internet cables to be reduced, which, theoretically, should also mean cheaper broadband internet subscription fees.

This is a good initiative. I just wish that the decision is implemented without any delay and ordinary people get the benefit of this wonderful technology.

SAARC Summit 2010 to be Hosted by Bhutan

(This entry was originally published in may 2009)

SAARC is the regional organization of the South Asian Countries. I am happy to find that Bhutan is going to host SAARC Summit 2010. It is expected to take place in the week of April in next year. IN the past, Bhutan got opportunity to host the Summit but 3 times did not agree to arrange because its decision makers felt that the country lacked infrastructure to arrange such an event. Now, the government officials of the country are confident that they can arrange the event successfully.

It will surely open a new chapter for the country. Leaders of the 8 members will attend and many government officials will visit the country. Many business leaders, journalists and some tourists will also come.

Related Article

Kuensel News

Economic Recession: What the World can Learn from Bhutan?

(This entry was originally uploaded on May 2009.)

The global economic recession is still there and most people in rich and poor countries are not immune from it. It seems that it has affected Bhutan because the country does not belong to the modern economic system. Free market and globalization both are not in the high agenda of Bhutanese government. Instead, they want to promote the idea of Gross National Happiness (GNH). It may sound foolish and laughable but the reality is that the government of country pursues this goal seriously.

I found an interesting report in The Scotsman. Seth Mydans wrote this report based on an interview of Prime Minister Jigme Thinley and Kinley Dorji (information Minister) who are among the top decision makers in the country. Both of these ministers stated that they intend to keep Bhutan this way. Of course, many people in the country are behind this idea too. Or else, there would have been a lot of conflict.

Pursuing the idea of happiness means giving more importance to spirituality.

Perhaps, the rich countries can learn something from Bhutan. They should also promote the idea of happiness among the citizens so that when bad times come people do not lose hope.

Should Bhutan Join WTO?

Bhutan is supposed to be land of happiness and spirituality and WTO is something related to money and materialism. The Bhutanese decision makers are determined to keep the peaceful life style intact and they want to stop the arrival of consumerist culture that dominates most countries in the world. However, some officials of Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) had recommenced the Prime Minister to join WTO sooner rather than later so that the country can get some benefit. According to the report, there is no major problem for the country’s economy if it joins WTO.

I also think that Bhutan should join WTO without any delay. The country needs some sort of modernization or else may suffer in the coming years. Most people are involved with farming and livestock raising. There is nothing wrong in it but now, many young people want to see some change in their life. The spread of education means that many children of today will want to have modern life style.

Related Article

Kuensel

(This entry was originally published in April 2009 and it based on the context on that time.)

Michael J. Fox, Optimism and Bhutan

To many people living in East and West, the idea of Gross National Happiness of Bhutan government is perhaps nothing but a joke. I have deep respect for this idea. Well, I live in South Asia and having this kind spiritual idea is perhaps not uncommon. It is not that I am a supporter of Bhutanese government but I really feel that all the countries should importance to the idea of happiness for its people. At least, it could help the western people more now during the time of economic recession. The worst thing that has happened during this recession is the matter that millions of people have lost hope. They are frustrated and they see only bleak prospect for themselves.

One American man is perhaps an exception and he wants to be optimistic. Michael J. Fox is a famous Hollywood actor. He has announced that he wants to be optimistic in life and as a part of his effort to be optimistic, he is going to travel Bhutan. I am delighted that Michael J. Fox has talked about it openly. Well, you may wonder that he is a rich Hollywood celebrity and he can have this kind of interest to get more media publicity. May be you are right but don’t forget that he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. So, he knows the value of happiness and optimism.

Related Article

Michael J. Fox: Optimisitic

(This entry was originally published in March 2009)

Hazelnuts: The Answer to Farmers and Economy of Bhutan?

Bhutan is a very mysterious country and it is most of the time out of the international media headlines. However, I have a long term interest about the country because first of all, it is my neighboring country and secondly I am very interested and passionate about anything related to South Asia and its economy. If you search about Bhutanese economy in Google or even Wikipedia, you will find hardly any information. Well, the problem is that modernization in Bhutan has not taken place that much. Only now, it is gradually becoming a modern country. It is behind neighboring countries like Nepal and Bangladesh when it comes to modernization and information but I have to admit that Bhutan is one of the most peaceful countries on earth.

Today I found an interesting report about agriculture in Bhutan. It is about hazelnut cultivation in the country. In fact, 20,000 hectors of land will be brought under hazelnut cultivation. If you know about hazelnut then you should know that it is a lucrative cash crop and its production is limited to only a few countries. Hazelnut is extensively used in confectionary items and these days, many people in the Western countries are interested about it because of its health benefits. The main point of this report is that Bhutanese farmers have been cultivating the same crops over and over again and they are also grazing their animals in the same land and thus the land has lost its quality. It is a common problem in many third world countries and I am happy that Bhutanese government has come forward in working with a private company called Sage Partner Limited in helping the farmers. Of course, the main goal it to make profit and still, I am very happy for this kind of initiative.

The cultivation will start from 2010 and the project is going to start very soon. In the west part of the country, the plantation will be carried out mainly but land from the whole country will be brought under project. It is a project worth of US $30 million and it has its benefits and challenges.

I feel that there are some benefits of the project. The first and immediate benefit that I can see is that it will ensure better utilization of land. One good aspect of the country is that its population is not that much and it still has some barren land. So, utilization of land is very important in the country. Utilization of land will result into bringing more money for the farmers and the government will also get some more revenue.

Hazelnuts will be exported and thus it will help the government to get some foreign currency. Here, I like to inform you that the main aspect of Bhutanese economy is that most people are farmers and they are dependant on their land. The country’s economy is totally dependant on agriculture, tourism and hydro electricity export. So, if hazelnuts are exported then it will also contribute in improving the life of the common people. I am also happy for another thing. This is perhaps for the first time a new approach of cultivation has been taken into consideration in Bhutan.

I am worried for certain things. First of all, it is a very large project in Bhutan. So, if it fails then its implication will be some disaster. Secondly, the farmers of Bhutan do not have any idea about hazelnut cultivation. So, it will be a challenging thing for them to do it properly. One thing that makes me worried a lot is the fact that if the project fails then many farmers will loss their hope about modernization of farming. Of course, the rate of education is not very high in the rural area and that is why; the farmers are still reluctant about modern techniques of agriculture farming.

Well, I feel that modernization is a must for Bhutan. If the country wants to improve its condition then only modernization of farming can bring the best result.