Rejecting comparisons to other cost-intensive, low-return smart city projects worldwide, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said the Gelephu Mindfulness City is a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for Indian investors in the 2,000 sq. km carbon-negative city project being designed.
Mr. Tobgay said Indian Airport Authority officials had already visited Gelephu and discussed permissions required for it, but that the contract for developing the airport is yet to be finalised, he told The Hindu in a virtual interview last week.
Mr. Tobgay said Bhutan is unlikely to review its decision to stay out of the Indian proposal for the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement.
Bhutan announced this week that it will use ₹1,500 crore, part of a ₹10,000 crore outlay promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Thimphu in March, for an ‘Economic Stimulus Programme’ to tackle its economic challenges of slow growth, downturn in tourism, and unemployment.
How deep are Bhutan’s economic challenges, given the post-COVID downturn, drop in tourism, and unemployment, and as the new Prime Minister, how will you tackle them?
Our economic challenges are deep. However, they are not new. Manufacturing has not really slowed down. It’s always been small. We need to step up manufacturing. We have taken a hit in terms of tourist arrivals, tourism, and so we are working towards getting to pre-pandemic numbers and way beyond that. We are quite excited now tourism is really picking up much more quickly than I had anticipated.
We have always been very conservative in growing our economy. We have insisted on ensuring that our economy is sustainable and distributive. And because of that, economic growth has lagged growth in other very important areas — everybody goes to school, everybody can converse in English with the world. Our healthcare is totally free, education is free. We attach a premium to culture. Our environment is the world’s envy. And in terms of governance, we have a vibrant democracy. All this is to say that our development philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH) actually works. If it has failed, it has failed because we have been a bit too conservative in growing our economy. We have got to correct that. And this is a challenge now.
But tens of thousands of young Bhutanese graduates have already left the country because they just don’t see the opportunities back home. How are you going to tackle that?
They are leaving for two reasons. One is that some of our youth don’t see opportunities at home, don’t see opportunities commensurate with their ambitions. There’s another group of youth who are going abroad to work very hard, and because they are able to earn a lot of money. Now, the question is, what are we going to do about it because we just can’t allow you to keep leaving the country. We have got to grow our economy. We have got to strengthen the fundamentals of our economy, and we have got to expand our economy. We have got to provide meaningful, gainful jobs for our youth.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to Thimphu, he raised Indian support to Bhutan’s next Five Year Plan from ₹5,000 crore to ₹10,000 crore. Where do you see this additional outlay being spent?
Prime Minister Modi announced an assistance package that has been unprecedented for Bhutan — ₹10,000 crore for the next five years. About ₹8,500 crore is for our 13th Five Year Plan that starts on July 1 this year. Much of that money will go into infrastructure. We have got to build new roads and improve existing roads. We have got to connect our remote villages. These projects are not financially viable. But our people live there and we have got to take care of them. We have got to build bridges. We have got to build schools, hospitals, and invest in human development. PM Modi and the people of India have very generously given us an assistance package of ₹1,500 crore for an economic stimulus package, and we have released details of how we will spend that [this week]. This money will be used to stimulate our economy to get our economy back on track, particularly in terms of small businesses, and in terms of reviving the tourism and the hospitality sector.
There’s much interest in the plan for Gelephu Mindfulness City announced by Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar. How will you ensure the plan is feasible and this doesn’t become a white elephant like many mega-city projects in the region and worldwide?
If there are white elephants, they are not in Bhutan. And the reason is because we can’t afford white elephants. This vision of His Majesty, the King, is already succeeding. And I say it’s already succeeding because it has captured the imagination of the world. Many people, potential investors, are making a beeline to Bhutan because they want to be involved in this vision right now. Architects are working overtime, planners are working overtime because there’s just so much interest in His Majesty’s vision, not least from India, to partner, to invest in infrastructure, but also to invest in businesses. Many investors from India see the potential of the Special Administrative Region, Gelephu Mindfulness in City, and they want to be first movers. We are situated bang on the border with India. This is a very welcome conduit into India’s vast economy and to all of South Asia, and by extension to Southeast Asia.
Indian airport authorities have visited Gelephu Airport, which you have to expand. Will there be a tie-up between India and Bhutan for the development of the airport?
Indian airport authority officials have visited and met the airport authority officials here to discuss about flight paths and aviation regulations of our respective countries. In terms of construction of the airport, right now, it’s at a design phase, an iconic airport is being designed. Once the design is complete, then I am sure the Mindfulness City Council will start inviting bids for construction.
What about specific Indian companies?
These are very early days. And I do not wish to get into details by naming them at this stage. We have got Expressions of Interest to invest in education, healthcare, retail, fintech, computing, and construction. There’s a lot of excitement.
Gelephu at present seems to be just flat, marshy land, a place that is ring-fenced by many conflict zones. How will you deal with those challenges?
So, what you call marshland areas, are some of the most beautiful landscapes, not just in Bhutan. We have pristine, protected forests, teeming with biodiversity, forests that are connected with biological corridors. We have the opportunity — Bhutan, India and the world — to manifest ideas into an urban space that is spread across 2,000 sq. km. That will add value to human life and the natural environment, that will be good for business, but not necessarily driven by markets. I’m convinced that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There are many other cities, yes, but we don’t compare ourselves to those cities.
You mentioned it is for South Asia, so are you reaching out to neighbouring countries and regional organisations such as SAARC and BIMSTEC?
We’re not looking at it from the political lens. But many of the countries you have mentioned are reaching out to us, whether it’s India or Nepal. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, also Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia — they are all reaching out to us. The vision is to create an urban space that is good for humanity and good for our nature, and I think we are making tremendous progress.
In 2017, Bhutan refused to join Bhutan, Bangladesh, India and Nepal (BBIN) motor vehicles agreement, when you were last in power. As Prime Minister once again, do you see a chance of reviewing that?
Well, actually, when I was Prime Minister, we had signed on to the BBIN agreement, but our Parliament did not ratify the agreement, because the people were up in arms. They said, don’t you see the reality around us? We are surrounded by huge populations in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, so we cannot have an agreement that will just allow everybody to go and [have] free access in and out. While we had negotiated a very generous deal from our neighbours, which would limit the number and destinations of the vehicles, our people just were not ready. I’ll be very frank. I don’t think we are ready even now.
Two prime ministerial visits already in 2024 — do you see more high level exchanges this year?
The next visit to Delhi I foresee as soon as the elections are over because I wish to congratulate the incoming Prime Minister in person.
