Service: Eight months after the construction started, about 60 households at Pachu in Phuentsholing gewog are still waiting for their drinking water supply to get connected. The work, which started in November 2014, was scheduled to complete in May this year.

Although the laying of pipeline was completed on time, commissioning of the water supply could not be achieved, Kuensel found. The water supply pulled from a water source in Ganglakha, it was learnt stopped at a point and did not reach the outlets designated at Pachu.

Initially, the length of the water supply was 24km. However, due to change in alignment, the length increased to 31km.

The proprietor of Tshering Construction, to whom the work was awarded, said for the last two and half months, they have been working to commission the water supply.

“The problem is with the size of the pipe,” the proprietor said, adding that his firm has agreed to remove 3km of pipeline as per the instruction of the dungkhag administration and replace it with the size of pipe as instructed. “Otherwise we have done the work.”

In 2006, the health ministry had constructed a water tank. However, it couldn’t reach most of the households in Pachu’s smaller chiwogs such as Pachu Dara and Baldan Dara. The supply was enough only for the population at Pachu Tar, including the Pachu primary school.

Due to the supply shortage, water pumps were used to link and supply water in Pachu Dara and Baldan Dara. However, the water pump did not supply enough water.

In addition, more than 30 water taps were also constructed in 2006. Without water supply, most taps have remained dry to date.

There are about 165 households at Pachu, which is one of the largest chiwogs in Phuentsholing gewog. About 40 percent of the households do not have water supply today.

The dungkhag and the dzongkhag administration have called a team from the department of public health engineering for their expertise in technical aspects.

A budget of Nu 3.9M was provided for the work.

By Rajesh Rai