November 9: Commuters along the Thimphu-Paro highway will no longer have to wait in queue for road opening hours. The road closure has been lifted for more than a month now.

Drive along the Thimphu-Paro highway and you will see the change. First the road closure has been lifted which means commuters no longer have to wait for hours in long queues for the road to open.

Second, the formation cutting or the double laning of the road has been completed and the workers are now surfacing the road.

The Works and Human Settlement Minister Lyonpo Kunzang Dorji said the initial plan was to complete the double laning only by March 2009. But because of the important events next year, the government requested project DANTAK to complete by the end of this year.

Of the 39 kilometers between Babesa and Paro airport eight kilometers have been contracted to Bhutanese contractors. The rest is being looked after by Dantak.

The Chief Engineer of Dantak, Brigadier Rajesh Tegai said everything including the blacktopping will be finished by March 2008.

The Works and Human Settlement Minister said as a national highway, the Thimphu-Paro highway will be constructed as per the standards of the highways in Asia.

Once complete, it will only take between 45 minutes to one hour to get to Paro from Thimphu and it is expected to be one of the best roads in the sub continent.

The construction work is fully funded by the Indian Government.