The report also found that many other farm roads lacked bridges, were not built properly, had huge cost escalations, were too steep and led to non productive areas.

The report says that, though many of the 49 farm roads were damaged due to cyclone Aila in May last year, these could have been largely avoided had construction quality been maintained. Lack of proper drainage, culverts and other works were leading to many farm roads to degrade rapidly.

RAA also came across 82 farm roads whose gradients or slope were more than the allowed 10 degrees, posing a risk to commuters and making the road virtually non pliable in some instances.

There were another 25 farm roads that lacked bridges, meaning that these farm roads could only be used partially and in some cases they were unusable.

The RAA report also says that there is a disparity in the allocation of farm roads among dzongkhags. For example, in Paro and Bumthang more than 93 percent of households had access to roads, while in Pemagatshel 50 percent of households had poor road access.

In places like Thimphu, Paro, Haa and Bumthang, farm road access of less then one km had been given, even though the road head was only a few minutes walk.

RAA says that this is because the guideline for farm road development of 2002, which specifies that places with higher agricultural productivity and lower road connectivity should be given preference, is not being followed.

The report also says that in some cases the identified beneficiaries of a farm road may actually not be benefiting. For example, the 13-km Tsangchutham-Martsalla farm road meant to benefit 975 households was actually benefiting only 40 households. As per rules, a minimum of 10 households have to benefit per km of farm road.

Through a cost analysis of 67 farm roads, the report has pointed out huge variations in construction costs. While variations can be attributed to difference in topography, there are also ‘alarming’ cost figures like Damji-Jabesa (2.22 million per km) and Ngatshang-Woongchiloo (2.30 million per km) indicating that expenses are not controlled.

The report has also pointed out some farm roads that head nowhere and end in forests, hilltops and barren slopes with no settlements.

The RAA report also points out poor quality of work, through outsourcing, in a case where Kyingkor consultancy was given Nu 4.9 million for supervision of the construction of some farm roads. RAA however from site visits found that the works were generally of ‘very poor quality’.

On the other hand, in many farm roads there was no practice of preparing detailed drawings and designs and farm roads suffered as they constructed following rudimentary methods or at times at the discretion of local leaders. Lack of adequate compensation for loss of land was also a major hurdle in getting support from beneficiaries.

It was also found that environment friendly road construction techniques were not followed, leading to loose soil and boulders being dumped everywhere.

Contrary to farm road guidelines, most dzongkhags did not provide for any maintenance budget or maintenance provisions for farm roads.

The report identifies issue like lack of finance, equipment engineers and poor monitoring and supervision as chronic problems.

The government in the 10th plan is targeting 3,265 km of farm roads. “Farm roads are the people’s biggest demand,” said Tshogpon Jigme Tshulthim. Relating his experience from his remote Radhi-Sakteng constituency, he said that during construction the local government and RNR staff must be involved in monitoring for better quality, local people must participate for a sense of ownership and there should be provision for a maintenance budget.

The agriculture secretary Sherub Gyaltshen said, “We accept the RAA report, which is very balanced, and now the ministry is following up and will take adequate action to address the concerns.”

RAA has requested the MoA to come up with a detailed plan of action to deal with the issue in the report on or before 15th May 2010.