The Dagapela-Dalbari secondary national highway in Dagana is expected to complete by January next year.

The 80.58kms road passes through five gewogs of Tsendagang, Gozhi, Dorona, Gesarling and Karmaling in Dagana.

As of now, officials are planning to blacktop four kilometres of the road from Dagapela side to make it easier for people to commute during monsoon.

The 29kms road from Lhamoizingkha side is all blacktopped.

According to the project manager, Pema Thinley, works are divided into five packages and they expect the construction to complete on time.

A work package includes formation cutting, base course and blacktopping of the roads.

The project manager said only about five kilometers of the road is left to join the roads constructed from either side. “The formation cutting has reached rocks and cliffs. It’s taking some time.”

A Tsendagang resident, Karma, said the road from zero point of Dagapela to Dagapela town becomes muddy in the monsoon, making it difficult for light vehicles and buses to ply.

“It has been almost four to five years that people of Tsendagang travelled on that muddy road because Dagapela to Dalbari road construction was kept on halt for some issues,” he said.

He also said that the road could have been completed a few years ago if the construction was not stalled.

The road construction resumed in March 2017.

With the on-going work for the Dagapela-Dalbari road, the farm road from Gesarling gewog to Dorona is also diverted since the old farm road was damaged because of the highway construction.

Gesarling gup Pema Wangmo said that if the stretch is not blacktopped before monsoon, small cars would not be able to ply on the muddy stretch for almost three to four months.

“People of Gesarling and Dorona always had to park their cars in the summer season and hire boleros to fetch their basic necessities,” she said.

Yeshey Dema | Dagana