Bridge To Bhutan

The ban on tobacco has resurfaced again from its dormancy. While it is for everyone to guess whether it will be successful this time round, one thing is certain; the sellers have laughed their way to the bank all the while.

The ban succeeded in inflating the price of tobacco products, but achieved little in restricting its inflow. Tobacco has been smuggled into the country in myriad of ways, some ingenious. And the ban could not match the ingenu­ity of the people. There is no assurance that the same thing will not happen again.

The law-makers have at­tributed the failure to im­proper implementation. But the truth might be that the ban itself was lopsided. It is not il­legal for people to use tobacco products; only selling is an offence. This elicited failure.

One need not be an econo­mist to see the marketability of an item dictated by its de­mand It is not the sellers who force people to buy but the buyers who persuade them to sell. As long as demand exists, sellers may go to any length to sell it. Therefore, the prison penalty, which is meant to intimidate people, may not be the ultimate solution. At any rate, three to five- year prison term seems a little irrational considering the gravity of the crime.

It appears as though we, in Bhutan, are short of reasons to send people to prison. If the implementation should happen as resolved, a time will come when our prisons will be filled to the limit. There will be a dire need to build more pris­ons making the government bear greater financial implica­tion than the ban itself.

Tobacco is a big killer. No one can argue that. But it is for an individual to decide wheth­er one should use it or not. If people wish to smoke even after realizing it is injurious to their health, so be it. Everyone has the right to compass his own end. It looks like the ban infringes into the personal choice of the people.

If tobacco should be banned because it is injurious to health, what about the vehicle fumes that we inhale more abundantly everyday? Should we put a ban on the use of vehicles? Should we censor every other bad thing that we see before us? (more…)

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Starting today all imported vehicles entering the country will be subjected to a revised sales tax and custom duty, according to a finance ministry notification. This includes those vehicles ordered months ago that have not reached Bhutan as of today.

The sales tax and custom duty were increased, based on the cylinder capacity or cc (cubic centimeter volume of the engine cabin), and categorised vehicles into petrol and diesel run vehicles.

However, vehicles imported from India will only have to pay an increased sales tax. Sales tax for petrol and diesel vehicles imported from third countries is up by five percent for vehicles up to 1500 cc, and by 15 percent for vehicles above 1501cc.

Custom duty for petrol and diesel vehicles up to 2500 cc has been increased by 10 percent, and by 30 percent for vehicles above 2501 cc. (more…)

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Thimpu, April 25 (IANS): Bhutan hopes the upcoming 16th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) here will help revive the country’s jaded tourism industry.

For the first time, this Himalayan kingdom will host a summit of the eight-member grouping April 28-29. The summit will mark the 25th year of the establishment of the regional body.

The tourism sector has been a nonstarter in Bhutan due to limited resources and lack of infrastructure, although the country is endowed with beautiful landscapes and rich wildlife.

Bhutan now hopes more foreign tourists would visit this landlocked country after it gets wide publicity during the summit.

The authorities in Thimpu have already gone into a rigorous drive to upgrade the infrastructure in view of the international conference.

Markets, restaurants and hotels were renovated to show the warm hospitality of the people of Bhutan when the dignitaries would come here for the summit, Kinley Dorji, secretary at Information and Communication Ministry, told Xinhua.

The infrastructure that has been upgraded would serve the tourism sector in the future, he said.

According to National Statistics Bureau of Bhutan, tourist arrival in the country is increasing every year. In 2009, more than 28,000 tourists visited the country, compared to 27,636 in 2008.

‘Within three years, we are hoping to increase tourist arrival by three times to 100,000 annually,’ said Dorji.

Since 1947, Bhutan has followed a ‘high value, low volume’ tourism policy, he added.

Tourists’ arrival in the country has been within the capacity of its socio-cultural and natural environment to absorb visitors without negative impacts. Tourism is Bhutan’s largest commercial source of convertible currency earnings.

Source: Yahoo News

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Bhutan will be hosting in 2010 the South Asian association for regional cooperation (SAARC) summit for the first time since the regional body was created in 1985.

“It will greatly enhance Bhutan’s international image as a sovereign, independent, responsible and equal member country,” said the prime minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley.This will be the first time that Bhutan will hold a conference where 8 heads of governments from Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives will be attending.
Bhutan had skipped the opportunity to host the SAARC summit three times on the ground of the country’s infrastructure. The summit will be in Thimphu with the currently proposed dates being from April 28 to 29, 2010.

“We are now prepared in terms of the administration, infrastructure and the foreign ministry being ready to host the summit,” said the Lyonchhoen.

The summit is also important for Bhutan since it is actually obligatory for each member state to host the summit. The 2010 summit was actually Maldives’s turn to host.
He said that the meeting would also allow for bilateral meetings with all the leaders of various countries, including India.
On his meeting with the Indian prime minister and other heads of state during the summit, he said, “We will discuss all matters of mutual interest, bilateral matters, relation, review, appraise each other of global and regional issues.”
He said that the summit would promote good neighbourly relations among SAARC countries, as different countries could meet and discuss.
“It is also like a coming of age for Bhutan,” said the prime minister. He said the leaders would be visiting a country that had successfully and peacefully made a transition to democracy inspired by His Majesty the King.

By Tenzing Lamsang (Kuenselonline)

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Tunnel Proposal: Technical and possible financial help from Norway

Department of geology and mines (DGM) identified tunnel sites

Pre-feasibility studies have already been done by DGM, indicating that they can be done. “The Wangdue/Punakha tunnels can decongest Thimphu and allow people to settle in these two valleys and also reduce the travel distance and time by around 40 km,” said DGM chief geologist, Ugyen Wangda. (more…)

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