Cabinet approves 1,000-acre land

February 18 – The cabinet on Tuesday approved a grant of about 1,000 acres of land to Druk holding and investments (DHI) to be used as an equity in the proposal to build a knowledge city in Bhutan by the Indian-based company, Infinity techno parks. The land will enable DHI to partner in the project, the cost of which is expected to run into billions of ngultrums. Cabinet ministers agreed that Bhutan must do its best to attract outside investment by creating a conducive environment within the... Read more

Education, Labour checklists

February 18 – The education and labour ministries signed performance compacts with the prime minister yesterday on 17 key initiatives to be undertaken by 2013, which will bind them to their targets. The education ministry committed to raise the percentage of teachers satisfied with the profession from 24 in 2009 to 70 percent in 2013 through changes in compensation, career tracks and promotion systems. With the initiative geared towards a Bhutanese learning system focused on GNH principles,... Read more

Intel donates 200 laptops to Bhutanese schools

February 13 – Intel, the multinational corporation that manufactures central processing units (CPU) or microprocessors, will donate 200 laptops for Bhutanese schools. Known as ‘Classmate PC’, the laptops or rather netbooks are Intel’s response to the one laptop per child (OLPC) XO computer, also known as the US$ 100 laptop. The donation comes four months after the government received 220 XO laptops from OLPC (Asia Pacific) and the international telecommunications union (ITU), reflecting... Read more

Indian tour operators interested in Bhutan

February 13 – In what is known to be India’s largest tourism fair network, Bhutan was among the more than 50 countries participating in the fair held in Mumbai, which drew 186,000 visitors from February 6-8. The annual event offered opportunity for tourism destinations and companies around the world to exhibit their products to travel industries and major outbound markets in India. The tourism council of Bhutan (TCB), comprising 13 tour operators and hoteliers, including Druk Air, received... Read more

Land transactions System

February 11 – ‘E-Succour’ in the near future will allow Bhutanese to make buy, sell and also inherit land at the click of a button online. In the first step towards this, the national land commission (NLC) has installed a data centre or large computer memory in its building in Thimphu. “We’ve already entered most of the information on individual thrams, digitised survey maps, cadastral survey maps and topography maps into the data centre,” said Dorjee Tshering, head of the... Read more

Tata interested in Bhutan’s development

February 11 – Tata group would like to increase its presence in Bhutan in areas beyond hydropower projects, and not necessarily for money, the chairman of India’s industrial and commercial giant, Tata group, Ratan Tata, told Prime Minister Jigmi Y Thinley. Calling on the prime minister in Gyalyong Tshokhang yesterday, Ratan Tata said that Tata Group has always looked at national development as more important than running business. He said he appreciated Bhutan’s desire to maintain its traditional... Read more

Helvetas handover

February 11 – The ambassador of Switzerland to Bhutan, Philippe Welti, will formally hand over buildings constructed under third phase of the Swiss agency for development and corporation (SDC) to the vice chancellor, royal university of Bhutan, Dasho (Dr) Pema Thinley, today at the Paro college of education. SDC has been a partner of the education ministry for several decades in building largescale infrastructure support, human resource development, curriculum review and development, and building... Read more

Total Solution Project NIIT

February 8 – The chairman of Indian ICT giant NIIT, Rajendra S. Pawar, and Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y. Thinley met in New Delhi, India, to take the Nu 2.05 billion Total Solutions forward. The project, funded by the government of India, is aimed at creating a knowledge-based Bhutanese society by harnessing information and communications technology. The Information and Communications Secretary, Dasho Kinley Dorji, who also attended the meeting today along with the Bhutanese ambassador... Read more

The last bastion of the hornbill

February 8 – Bhutan’s forests provide a safe haven for the rufous-necked hornbill, a bird that is classified vulnerable by the international union for conservation of nature (IUCN) and Birdlife international, according to a Thrumshingla national park official. The hornbill, a big bird with an impressive curved bill and block-like casque on top of the head and bill, is found in Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and northeast India. It has suffered a huge population decline,... Read more

DHI’s Nu 52 billion investment plan

February 5- The Druk holdings investment (DHI) and its companies are planning a Nu 52.614 bn investment for various projects and plans in four years, from 2010 to 2014. The respective boards of the companies have already given their approval, while the DHI board recently gave an ‘in principle approval,’ now to be followed by consultations with the finance ministry. With Nu 28.464 bn, Bhutan power corporation (BPC) has the largest investment outlay. Of this Nu 15.677 bn will go towards construction... Read more

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