Rural Electrification V, Bhutan



Contract partner: GNHC / RGoB - Gross National Happiness Commission - Royal Government of Bhutan Country: Bhutan Funding amount: € 210.800,00 Project start: 01.12.2006 End: 30.06.2009

Short Description:

Overall goal


Bhutan is pursuing a program of Rural Electrification and the target of the current 9th Plan is to connect 15.000 rural households. In the concentrated effort of many donors, Austria is also putting in its share. The Austrian assistance allows clusters of houses to be taken up that were left out of large scale planning because of various reasons. This program is certainly the one with the most direct and visible benefit to the rural households in Bhutan.


Until now four Rural Electrification (RE) contracts have been approved. The RE I and RE III have been completed and final project completion report and the audited accounts have been submitted. RE II (balance funds utilisation) and RE IV will be completed by end of December 2006. So far, under the RE-I (228 Households-HH) RE-II (266HH) and RE-III (503HH), a total of 997 households have been electrified in the rural villages of Trashigang, Trashiyangtse, Thimphu, Haa, Wangdue, Mongar, Zhemgang, Pemagatsel and Samtse. Upon completion of the RE IV and RE II (balance funds utilisation) by end of 2006, more than 1500 households will have been supplied with electricity.


During the implementation of the RE IV (2116-00-2004) in Tang and Langthel, 50 households in Tang Gewog and 49 households under Langthel Gewog including a school, Basic Health Unit and Gup Office have been left out, inspite of the fact that these houses are quite close to the project area. According to the Department of Energy, the Rural Electrification programs are implemented village wise and clarified that it is possible that some villages even though located close to the project area are sometimes left out. During the field visit to the project, the local authorities requested for additional assistance to include these left out households as they are located very close to the project area. Therefore, the Rural Electrification V aims at connecting the additional 99 households in Tang and Langthel Gewogs.

project number 2116-00/2006
source of funding OEZA
sector Heizung, Kühlung und Energieverteilung
tied
modality
marker
  • Policy marker: are used to identify, assess and facilitate the monitoring of activities in support of policy objectives concerning gender equality, aid to environment, participatory development/good governance, trade development and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Activities targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions include the identification of biodiversity, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and desertification.
    • 1= policy is a significant objective of the activity
    • 2= policy is the principal objective of the activity
  • Donor/ source of funding: The ADA is not only implementing projects and programmes of the Austrian Development Cooperation , but also projects funded from other sources and donors such as
    • AKF - Foreign Disaster Fund of the Austrian federal government
    • BMLFUW - Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
    • EU - Funds of the European Commission
    • Others - various other donors are listed in ADA’s annual business report.
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  • Purpose/ sector code: classifies the specific area of the recipient’s economic or social structure, funded by a bilateral contribution.
  • Tied/Untied: Untied aid is defined as loans and grants whose proceeds are fully and freely available to finance procurement from all OECD countries and substantially all developing countries. Transactions are considered tied unless the donor has, at the time of the aid offer, clearly specified a range of countries eligible for procurement which meets the tests for “untied” aid.