Home > Economy > Cement plant to make Nganaglm a business hub

Cement plant to make Nganaglm a business hub

8 March 2010

The construction of mega Dungsam Cement Corpo­ration Limited (DCCL) in Pemagatshel is in full swing promising many economic opportunities for the local communities.

As part of the project, the 15-km road from Indo-Bhutan border to the project site at Chenkari is being broadened to two lanes. Broadening of the road, which is expected to be complete by mid April this year, has been delayed by a few months.

A 38-km two-lane highway from Pathshala in Assam in India to Nganglam is expect­ed to be complete in a month. The upgraded highway will improve connectivity to the cement plant and help export cement to the north-eastern states of India.

General Manager of DCCL, Sonam Wangchuk, said there was a need for a superior quality road as 90 percent of the cement from the factory is expected to be exported to India.

The road will not only pro­vide access to the Nu 7,286 million DCCL, Bhutan’s big­gest cement plant, but also provide travellers in India and Bhutan a faster means of transport.

Today, it takes four hours to reach the Indian town of Pathshala from Nganglam. Once the road is complete, it will take less than an hour to reach the national highway 31 in Pathshala, which is used by Bhutanese to go to various southern border towns.

Nganglam Dungpa Nima Gyeltshen said the road would be mutually beneficial. “Bhutanese people will have easy access to the bordering towns of India, and people of India can get gainful employ­ment in the project,” he said.

The construction of the ad­ministrative block is almost complete. Tender for the construction of staff quarters has been floated. The main machine has been ordered on September 9, 2009. Installa­tion of the plant will be com­plete in 27 months.

According to the General Manager, the staff colony will be isolated from the plant. Within the colony, there will be a day-care centre and a shopping complex. Since there are already two schools and a grade I BHU in Ngan­glam, DCCL will not construct new ones.

The project has employed 54 Bhutanese until now. Many Bhutanese contractors work at the construction site. Once operational, the project will have 414 employees, all Bhutanese.

Formerly known as Dung­sam Cement Project Author­ity, DCCL will be a joint ven­ture company between Druk Holding and Investments and equity partners.

The government of India provided Nu 3,000 million for the project.

DCCL has a production ca­pacity of one million tonnes of cement a year. The project, which was conceived in the 1980s, was shelved in Janu­ary 2001 due to security rea­sons. However, on February 14, 2005, Bhutan and India decided to resume the pro­posed project work.

After the plant is commis­sioned, it is expected to boost the economy of south-east Bhutan besides creating a major export corridor in the north-eastern India.

The plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2011.

Meanwhile, the construc­tion of Gyalpoizhing-Ngan­glam highway is picking pace. The road will pass through DCCL plant and join the road to the plant 15 km from Chen­kari. Nganglam is expected to become a commercial hub.

By Rabi C Dahal

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Posted by Bhutan Observer · Filed Under Economy 

Comments

One Response to “Cement plant to make Nganaglm a business hub”

  1. pema tshering on May 5th, 2010 8:22 pm

    you have given the capital provide by the indian government for the construction of Dungsam cement project authority but not given the capital provide by Druk Holding and investments and equity partners and also the profit sharing by them after the completion of project for that I want to request manager for such detail.

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