Transport in Bhutan

=History=

Until 1961, because of the lack of paved roads, travel in Bhutan was by foot or on muleback or horseback. The 205-kilometer trek from the Indian border to Thimphu took six days. Modern road construction began in earnest during the First Development, Plan (1961-66). The first paved road 175-kilometers-long was completed in 1962 (a branch road later linked Paro with the PhuntsholingThimphu road). Described as a jeep track, it linked Thimphu and Phuntsholing with Jaigaon, West Bengal. The travel time by motor vehicle from the border to Thimphu had shrunk to six hours. Some 30,000 Indian and Nepalese laborers were imported to build the road with Indian aid at a time when India was bolstering its strategic defense against a possible Chinese invasion. Bhutanese also were obliged to donate labor for the construction work. Another road connecting Tashigang with Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, also was built.Worden, Robert L. "Roads". [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/bttoc.html "A Country Study: Bhutan"] (Andrea Matles Savada, editor). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (September 1991). PD-notice]

By the mid-1970s, about 1,500 kilometers of roads had been built, largely by manual labor. There was a linked network of 2,280 kilometers of roads in 1989; at least 1,761 kilometers of these were paved with asphalt, and 1,393 kilometers were classified as national highways (see fig. 16). Despite the construction of surfaced roads linking the principal towns in the south, the mountainous terrain elsewhere makes travel even from one valley to the next quite difficult. Most roads run in river valleys. As part of the Sixth Development Plan, the Department of Public Works, in cooperation with the Indian Border Roads Organization, made plans to construct and upgrade 1,000 kilometers of roads and to extend the road network through the five major river valleys by 1992. Motorable roads were not the only important development. It was estimated as part of the Fifth Development Plan that Bhutan also needed some 2,500 kilometers of mule tracks to connect the nation's 4,500 settlements.

Rail

As of 2008, Bhutan did not have any railways. [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/EXTSARREGTOPTRANSPORT/0,,contentMDK:20697260~pagePK:34004173~piPK:34003707~theSitePK:579598,00.html]

Bhutan and India have signed a MOU to connect Bhutan with the Indian Railways network. Further progress was reported in March 2006. ["International Railway Journal" March 2005.]

On January 25, 2005, the King and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to carry out a feasibility study for rail links.Possible routes are Hasimara - Phuentsholing with a branch to Pasaka (18 km); Kokrajhar - Geylegphug (70 km); Pathsala - Naglam (40 km); Rangla - Darranga - Samdrupjongkar (60 km); and Banarhat - Samtse. [ [http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2005/03/1687/pointers-24.html Pointers] . "Railway Gazette International" March 2007. Retrieved September 2, 2007.]

Highways

*Total: 3,285 km
*Paved: 1,994 km
*Unpaved: 1,291 km (1996 est.)

The country's primary road is the East-West highway, known locally as the Lateral Road, which was constructed starting in 1962. The road starts in Phuentsholing on the SW Indian border and terminates in Trashigang in the far east, with spurs to other main centres such as Paro, Thimphu, and Punakha. The Lateral Road is built to a standard width of only 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) yet must support traffic in both directions (the cost of cutting a wider road through the mountainous Middle Himalayas is prohibitive at this time). Safety barriers, road markings, and signage are sparse. Traffic proceeds at a slow speed, typically around 15 km/h, to minimize head-on collisions. Road accidents still occur frequently and, because of the steep mountainous topography, are typically horrific. The portion connecting Paro Airport to Thimphu is slated to be expanded to a two lane expressway, which should alleviate some of the discomfort felt by foreign tourists prone to acrophobia (fear of heights).

The Lateral Road traverses are a number of high passes, including Tremo La and Do Chu La. The highest pass on the road is at Trumshing La in central Bhutan at an altitude of over 3800 m.

Roads in western Bhutan are maintained under contract by DANTAK, an Indian Army engineering division, and in the rest of the country by the Department of Roads.

Because much of the geology is unstable, there are frequent slips and landslides, which are aggravated by both summer monsoon and winter snowstorm and frost heave conditions. Teams of Indian labourers are housed at work camps in the mountain passes to be dispatched to clear the roads in the event of road blockage. The conditions in the work camps are poor, with the workers reduced to breaking rock into gravel on a piece-rate basis when not clearing the roads. An international aid project is under way to stabilise the worst sections of the road. A major Japanese aid project seeks to replace most of the narrow one-way bridges with two-way girder spans capable of carrying heavier traffic.

Most freight is moved on eight-ton 300 hp (225 kW) Tata trucks, which are often overloaded. There is a network of passenger buses, and the most common vehicle in Government and private use is the four wheel drive pickup. A national driver licensing system includes a driving test, but this is not rigorous. Government drivers are trained at the Samthang Vocational Training Institute driving school (formerly the National Driving Training Institute) or they learn on the job as 'handy boys'.

The roads do not have stoplights--a stoplight installed in Thimphu has been dismantled, and there are recent reports of plans to reinstate it.

Ports and harbours

"none" (Bhutan is a landlocked country)

Airports

*Total: 2 (1999 est.)
*Paved: 1 (Paro Airport) -- 1,986 m
*Unpaved: 1 -- 914 m to 1,523 m

The single runway at Paro Airport is located in a steep-sided valley with restricted VFR approaches. During the monsoon season, flights are often delayed by cloud cover. Drukair is the national carrier, connecting Paro to Bangkok (Thailand), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Kolkatta, and Delhi (India), and Kathmandu (Nepal). The airline replaced its two aging BAe 146 four-engined jets in 2004 with faster and more capacious Airbus A319-100 aircraft.

References

The statistics in this article were originally adapted from the CIA World Factbook 2000.