tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927086664707056533.post774779914281336724..comments2024-03-29T17:53:55.728+06:00Comments on Bhutan Land Of The Thunder Dragon: Bury The Burial Grounds - IYeshey Dorjihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03414546232976648883noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927086664707056533.post-91135646216642953932017-07-17T14:23:21.060+06:002017-07-17T14:23:21.060+06:00GOI has the onus to not burden RGOB any further. T...GOI has the onus to not burden RGOB any further. The cost escalations are ruining Bhutan as we have to bear 40% of the total cost as loan at a high interest rate. Cost + tariff is not going to work at all by the completion of the Project.<br />What went wrong and who all did not live to expectations?<br />The first person that comes to my mind is Khazanchi. After doing a below average job in Tala Project, both governments compete to praise him after completion of the Tala Project to be civilized and this praise slowly catapults the government to choose him as the Top man for PHPAs. The pitching for the choice of shifting the PHPA1 dam is the first colossal mistake he made and that bad choice is the beginning of all woes and we still consider him the leader in Hydro Power Projects.<br />The second person that comes to mind is previous MoEA Minister Khandu Wangchuk for his failure to control Khazanchi and take hard decisions. This is followed by his successor Norbu Wangchuk, who had no ideas or abilities except oratory skills. The burden now is on Lekey Dorji but he will run out of time.<br />We have come to a situation, closing down is not an option. But we need to discuss seriously of loan component. interest rate and tariff. As mentioned in the beginning, the onus is on GoI for a project badly executed by its Top Executive, experts, contractors, etcAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08941087608937024988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927086664707056533.post-46396099503483713402017-07-16T08:59:36.701+06:002017-07-16T08:59:36.701+06:00The glory days of hydropower as "White Gold&q...The glory days of hydropower as "White Gold" are gone now. I often travel to Tsirang along that stretch of the highway and cannot imagine PHPA1 finishing on time, yet again. Maybe there are technicalities that I do not understand but I still see them dredging/drilling. <br /><br />In spite of the blooming failures of these projects, our biggest enemies are within. Our bureaucrats and politicians continue selling such mega projects as the key to not only national, but also local, economic salvation. Sadly, we still continue to dive into this bottomless pit, and even emerge with new economic concepts to justify these mammoth borrowings. Every politician considers it a success for pushing the early implementation of such projects in their constituency. Instead of getting to the bottom of the PHPA projects, parliament is more engrossed with didcussions on expediting the Chamkhar Chu project. <br /><br />For good or bad, the World Bank and the ADB also want to get on the bandwagon. Their access is still limited right now. My advice to them would be to encourage the government and fund an independent review of our hydropower policy. While we pride ourselves for having environmentally friendly run-off-the-river projects, it will be an eye opener to see the plethora of negative impacts that these projects bring; foremost amongst them our infinite dependence on India.<br /><br />By biggest fear is the PHPA projects turning into another Damchu bypass story. What do we do then when we are held ransom yet again. I think it is time for the government to engage in some serious dialogue instead of putting our hands deeper into our neighbor's pockets.<br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5927086664707056533.post-72253707954996578572017-07-14T12:51:42.862+06:002017-07-14T12:51:42.862+06:00As the saying goes, " no use crying over spil...As the saying goes, " no use crying over spilt milk" these generation of perplex situation had to be seen beforehand but for reasons best known to the brains who conceptualised these projects, they left these out for a first hand experience and experiment. We can only pray that instead of billions of debt the project will be completed and add a little to the GPHG. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com