The damaged road that runs above the Olakha automobile workshop area leading to project DANTAK office is expected to be completed by mid this year, according to Thimphu Thromde engineers.

About 20 metres of the road and the roadside drain towards the hillside developed cracks leading the road to slide. Due to the damage, the road has remained closed to traffic since November 22 last year. It also caused water supply disruption in the locality.

Thimphu Thromde’s chief engineer, Karma Jamtsho, said that with the assistance of thromde engineers, the building below the damaged area was redesigned to incorporate a shear wall at the back of the building.

He said that once the shear wall is built up to one-storey (i.e three metres), thromde would excavate the area and fill it till the road point. The soil would then be compacted and blacktopped. “The shear wall would support and take the load of the earth pressure during back fill.”

Karma Jamtsho, said that thromde would make sure that the new road has proper drainage system so that there is no possibility of water seepage in future. “Precautions will be taken after the road is lifted to the previous level.”

Thromde aims to finish the road construction before the onset of monsoon, Karma Jamtsho said, as it would not be possible to compress the soil during monsoon. “There are chances of the water sipping into the area. Before the onset of monsoon we should have blacktopped the road and drains rectified. Disruption may be there but it is not going to be costly.”

In an earlier interview with Kuensel, Thimphu Thrompon Kinlay Dorjee said that as a temporary water supply measure, thromde has laid water pipes from the tank near DANTAK camp to the households below the old highway and from Royal Thimphu College (RTC) to the water tank above Thimphu TechPark.

Full reinstatement of water would be possible only after the completion of the road.

Karma Cheki