It is interesting how two Bhutanese newspapers of repute – Business Bhutan and TheBhutanese – pursues two starkly contrarian line of thinking on a common subject of national concern: Punatsangchu Hydropower Project-I.
In their issue of 17th January, 2026, Business Bhutan eulogizes the PHPA-I in following glowing terms:
“The Punatsangchhu-I project is a story of ambition, perseverance, and regional partnership – an engineering marvel that is poised to leave a lasting mark on the hydropower landscape of South Asia. As the final block rises on the right side of the dam, Bhutan edges ever closer to realizing one of its most ambitious energy dreams.”
TheBhutanese, on the other hand, leaves nothing to imagination when, in their paper dated October 12, 2024 quotes the following as having been said by Dr Yash Pal Shardha, a retired, senior Engineering Geologist of the Geological Survey of India:
“This project (referring to PHPA-I) is the best example of deceit and dishonesty by project people. A very good investigative Detailed Project Report at one place was done but the project was shifted to another place without conducting any investigation and whatever investigations were done were cooked up data knowing fully well we are going to face problems and we went for the tender stage and drilled a few holes and the project started for construction and now see fate of the project and will it ever be completed.”
As for me, I have already written 81 blogs on the subject of our hydroelectric projects .... to say any more would be nothing short of flogging the dead horse!
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