Road: boon or bane?

29 May 2009

The road to Gasa is directly impacting the business of horsemen

Nothing comes without a cost. For the porters and horsemen of Gasa, the construction of the Punakha-Gasa road is a curse in disguise.

For decades, the porters and horsemen have been earning their living ferrying people from the road end in Punakha to Gasa. But since the road construction began, many of them say their income has dwindled. They get paid less since the road has reached Gayzapang from where it takes three hours to Gasa.

Passang, 55, a horseman from Zomina, said before the arrival of the road, he used to get Nu 400 for a horse to carry a person and his luggage from the road end at Tashithang to the tshachhu. But now, he gets only Nu 300 for a horse. He said the coming of the road would directly affect the livelihood of about 100 horsemen.

Most of the horsemen said the completion of road to Gasa would hurt their business. Most of their customers are Bhutanese going to Gasa tshachhu. Passang said that, once the road is complete, he could do business only with the people travelling to the tshachhu, which is about an hour’s walk from the dzong.

Passang is already contemplating selling some of horses. He owns ten horses. If business falls, he said he will stay at home and start farming to support his wife and two children. He said he also has plans to take his horses to Laya, because there would be people who needed horses to carry their luggage.

Wangchuk, 25, is another horseman, who earns Nu 300 for a horse for a trip from Geyzapang to Gasa. He owns four horses. Most of his customers are travellers to the hot spring.

“I earn enough for my family right now, but once the road is completed, we won’t earn much and there won’t be any business for us,” he said. But he is not concerned since he already has plans to start farming or open a shop in Gasa.

Most of the porters said they got more customers during winter as more people visited the hot spring during winter. They said that business was cold in summer.

The construction of the road to Gasa is expected to be completed within the 10th five-year plan.

BY PHUNTSHO WANGMO

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