Deadline Further Deferred.

               Global tenders for three bridges en route are still to be taken on

The Chukha Damchu bypass on the Thimphu-Phuentsholing highway that will reduce road distance by more than 20 km, and cut travel time by an hour, may be open to traffic only by mid 2014.
Officials of Project DANTAK, which is doing the realignment, said the bypass requires building three bridges, but the global tenders for their construction are yet to be accepted, because bidders have asked for more time.
This could delay completion of the bypass, which was initially expected by the end of next year, by another six months, a spokesman for DANTAK said.  It might take another two to three months to award the work for constructing the bridges, the spokesperson said.
Work on the 29 km bypass began in 2010, with a completion date by March 2013.  But the deadline got pushed to 2013 end, because of the challenges posed by extremely rocky terrain.
Project DANTAK’s chief engineer, Brigadier S Radhakrishnan, said constructing three bridges, which are 80 to 100'm long, would take some time, although road construction would be completed by end of 2013.
Brigadier S Radhakrishnan said the construction of all three bridges would be awarded to one contractor.
Works and human settlement secretary Dasho (Dr) Sonam Tenzin, who visited the construction site on December 15, said there has been good progress.
He said Project DANTAK had divided the whole 29 km stretch into six sections, and that work was being done at all sections.
In the first 2.1 km section, the whole construction, along with surfacing and permanent work, had been completed, and in the five other sections, formation cutting, surfacing work and permanent work were being executed simultaneously.
Brigadier S Radhakrishnan said they had to divide the stretch into different sections to deploy more equipment, as progress of work depended on it. “With more additional points, we deployed more machinery to execute formation cutting, surfacing and permanent works simultaneously,” he said.
According to DANTAK officials more than 20 of its workers have died so far working on the bypass which, when completed, will no longer require traffic to ascend to Chapcha, drive down to Bunakha and again climb up to Tshimakoti.