Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Education City

What exactly is happening to the Bhutanese people? Are we slowly going insane? What happened to our capacity to think objectively and rationally?

Take, for instance, the case of the Bhutan Education City project. Everybody seems to be intent on killing it. Why and by what authority? In all frankness I am not so sure of its commercial viability but we should understand that huge investments have already been made - in hundreds of millions.

But what is even more irksome is that the whole project is now being touted as something illegal. From what I know, both the Upper, as well as, the Lower Houses of the Parliament had passed the Bhutan Education City Act. Even beyond that, it received Royal Assent on 3rd September, 2012. So there is no authority in this country who can say that this project is illegal and that it should be shut down. If it has to be shut down, there are procedures to follow - before making such pronouncements. The Land Commission has no authority to challenge a decision passed by the King and the Parliament.

If it has now been determined that the Education City project is commercially not feasible, then it certainly is a good idea to look at other options, but don’t call it illegal and remember that only the King and the Parliament can decide to pronounce its burial.

In the meantime, if we are smart and unique as we claim, let us look at how we can recoup our investment - through better ideas. If the Education City was a bad idea, let us come up with a better one.

I have a proposal: lease some portion of the land to IMTRAT. They have become an eyesore being located bang in the center of Thimphu city. And, lease some portion of it to the RBA and relocate them from Lungtenphu. Also, it would be a good idea to consider moving out the Bhutan Oil Distributors - one of these days, the BOD is going to cause a major catastrophe.

2 comments:

  1. The Land Act 2007 was violated. Therefore, the Bhutan Education City is illegal because the pervious government and some politicians with vested interests flouted the Land Act which was in vogue. The due process was absolutely not in keeping with the provisions of the Land Act. Have a look at www.kbwakhley.blogspot.com on the project.

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  2. From what i gather from reliable sources involved with the promoters, there was deception in how the project was presented. The actual project is very different from how it was sold to the country, and required major changes to the Land Act!

    Luckily for us, it was in violation of the existing Land Act and was nipped at this stage as the only legal excuse. Was the attempt to change Land Act in past years related to this?

    Anyway, good suggestion to using the land in the present form for military.
    But it is still strange for people to build houses around the RBA and helipad, and then ask why there is a helicopter field next to the buildings

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