Bhutan Joint Donor Report 2001
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CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD BY THE RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE Part I Basic Facts about Bhutan Part II Background Part III An Inventory of Donor Financed Activities in Bhutan I – V Part IV Report Tables Table 1: Summary of the External Assistance by Donor Agency 1 – 3 Table 2: Summary of External Assistance by Type and Implementing Agency 4 – 8 Table 3: Status of the External Assistance Projects in 2000 9 – 42 Table 4: Summary of External Assistance by DAC Codes 42 – 50 Annex I: Acronyms and Abbreviations Annex II: List of DAC-Codes Annex III: Type of Assistance BASIC FACTS ABOUT BHUTAN LAND AREA: 46,500 sq.km GDP PER CAPITA (1996):1 US$ 662 POPULATION (1999) 657,550 Population growth rate (1994): 3.1 % Population density (1999): 14.1 a persons per sq.km Population distribution (1999): Urban: 21% Rural: 79% LAND USE (1999)2 Forest: 72.5% Scrub Forest: 8.1% Agricultural Land: 7.7% Pastures: 3.9% Rock, Snow and Glaciers: 15.7% Other: 0.2% HEALTH Infant mortality rate (1994): 80 per 1000 live births Life expectancy at birth (1994): 66 years Access to Safe drinking water (1999): 63 % Persons per doctor (1999): 6,384 Persons per hospital bed (1999): 1,023 EDUCATION Gross Primary enrolment rate (1999) 72% Number of Schools (1999) 343 1 Source: Central Statistical Organization 2 Source: Land Use Planning Project, Ministry of Agriculture Number of students including institutes (1999) 107,792 Number of teachers including institutes (1999) 2,856 ECONOMY GDP growth rate (1999) 6.0% GDP (1999) (1980 prices): Nu. 3,700 million GDP (1999) (current prices) Nu. 19,273.5 million Share of GDP (1999)3 Agriculture: 34.8% Industry4 34.7% Services (incl. Government)5 29.6% Balance of payments (1998/99) Value of Exports: Nu. 4,455.6 million Value of Imports: Nu. –5,516.4 million Trade Balances : Nu. –1,060.8 million Current account balance: Nu. –5,543.59 million Foreign aid flows (1995/96) US$ 69.8 million External debt (1996/97, Prov.): convertible: US$ 83 million Other: Rs. 1,170 million (36% of GDP) Debt service ratio (1996/97, Prov.): 9 % Inflation rate (1997) 6.6 % Average exchange rate (2000) Calender year Average 1 US$ = Nu. 43.59 Fiscal year Average = Nu. 43.49 Principal exports (1994/95): Electricity (24.9%), calcium carbide (19.8%), wood 3 Source: Central Statistical Organization. 4 Includes: mining & quarrying, manufacturing, energy, construction 5 Includes: wholesale and retail trade, restaurants, hotels; transportation and communication; financing, insurance, real estate; government services products (11.9%), agricultural products (14.3%), and Cement (12.9%) Principal export markets: India (96.4% of exports in 1997) Bangladesh Principal imports: Vehicles, spare parts, Petroleum products, rice Principal import market: India (69.4% of imports in 1997) INFRASTRUCTURE Roads (1999): 3,636 km Electricity Consumption (1999) MU. 390.8 GENERAL Religions: Buddhism and Hinduism Official languages: Dzongkha and English Currency: Ngultrum Fiscal year: July – June Sources: 1999 Statistical Year Book, Central Statistical Organisation, Release 2001. National Accounts Statistics Report 1980 – 1999, CSO, Release November 2000. COUNTRY BACKGROUND Geography and Climate Bhutan is one of the most mountainous countries in the world, located on the southern slopes of the eastern Himalayas between the giants of China (Tibet) to the north and India to the east, south and west. The country stretches 150 km from north to south and 300 km from west to east, covering approximately 46,500 square kilometres. The physical variations such as altitude and orientation of mountains and valleys have created different climatic zones within Bhutan. According to climatologists, the following four zones can be observed: · The Sub-Tropical Monsoon Climate Zone, extending in an east-west direction along the southern foothills at an altitude of 200 to 2000 metres above sea level and stretching into the lower valleys of the Inner Himalayas like fingers. This zone has dense population clusters, with long, hot, wet summers and short, dry winters. The mean monthly temperature ranges from 15 degrees Celsius in winter to 30 degrees Celsius during summer, while the total annual rainfall usually is above 2000 millimetres in the foothills. However, temperature and rainfall vary from valley to valley. · The Temperate Climate Zone, lying above the Sub-Tropical Zone at an elevation of 2000 to 3000 metres, with warm summers and freezing nights during the winters. The average daily temperature during winter varies between 5 and 15 degrees Celsius, while the average daily temperature in summer ranges from 15 to 30 degrees Celsius. The total annual rainfall varies between 1500 and 2000 millimetres, with most rain coming during the monsoon from about mid-June to September. Densely inhabited valleys characterise this zone. · The Sub-Alpine Climate Zone, which lies between 3000 and 4000 metres above sea level. Here the total annual rainfall varies from 1000 to 1500 millimetres, while the mean annual temperature is around 8 degrees Celsius. Mist and fog, cold winds and light rain mark the weather during the short summer, and snow characterises the long winter. This zone is sparsely populated. · The Alpine Climate Zone, lying more than 4000 metres above sea level. The word alpine refers to the vegetation or climatic conditions found on the high mountains in this area. Because of very low temperatures and freezing conditions, trees cannot grow here. The alpine zone is hardly touched by humans. Throughout history, Bhutan has remained isolated and rather uninfluenced by the changes taking place in other parts of the world. This has mainly been due to the geographical conditions in the high Himalayas, the dense forests, cold winters in the north and very hot, wet summers in the south, as well as malaria-infected I swamplands. In addition, Bhutan was not on the main imperial routes like the more densely populated areas of Kashmir and Afghanistan. Population With an estimated population of some 658,000 in 2000, according to the Central Statistical Office, the population density of Bhutan is among the lowest in Asia, and there still remain large tracts of unoccupied land. However, taking into consideration the annual population growth of 3.1% and the limited land suitable for cultivation, the country may face a serious problem of population pressure in the not-so-distant future. In fact reducing population growth has been prioritised in the Royal Government’s “Vision for Peace, Prosperity and Happiness” (popularly referred to as the Vision 2020). The target is to reduce the population growth to 1.31% per annum by the end of year 2012 by adding a National Population Policy to the existing Royal Decree on Population from 1995. Ethnic Groups Bhutan has many different ethnic groups, which can be said to belong either to the Ngalops, the Sharschops or the Lhotshams. The Ngalops of Tibetan origin, are concentrated in western Bhutan, and the Sharchops, of Indo-Mongolian origin, live mainly in the east. Both the Ngalops and the Sharchops are Buddhists and share the same customs and dress; they are often referred as the Drukpas. The Lhotshams, to the south, are of Nepali origin and comprise Hindus as well as Buddhists and animists. Human Settlement Patterns The harsh climate and the difficult terrain has helped to make the Bhutanese hard- working and self-reliant. Food has in general been sufficient, and apart from salt, hardly anything had to be imported from outside. A majority of nearly 70% of the population lives in scattered rural villages, homesteads and isolated farms. Normally farmers live in a close community from where they travel to their farms in the morning, returning to the villages at night. Occasionally, they do not return to their homes but stay in sheds near the fields to guard their crops from wild animals. The settlement pattern and work habits are greatly influenced by the climatic and geographical conditions. While travelling around Bhutan, the visitor will observe that settlements have generally occurred in relatively flat areas, where climatic conditions are moderate. It is, however, interesting to note that quite a few rural nucleated settlements are found in regions where the winter can be quite harsh. In the past many of these settlements were only occupied during the warm summer seasons and left vacant in winter as the inhabitants migrated to take advantage of the better winter climate at the lower altitude. An example is Lunana, which is the highest settlement, at 3500 metres above sea level. Here the people and their domestic animals can only stay for part of the year due to the harsh winter. II Urbanisation Urbanisation is a rather new phenomenon in Bhutan. The migration from rural areas to urban centres, and the subsequent emergence of urban characteristics such as multi-storeyed buildings, restaurants, streets, shops, hotels and hospitals, only began in the early 1960s. As a consequence of the expansion of the Royal Government’s development programmes following the First Five Year Plan in 1961, the employment within the administrative offices increased. This resulted in the growth of the population living in and around the Dzongs, which function as both an administrative centre and a monastery. Residential colonies developed for those employed in the administrative offices and towns grew up either around or very near to the Dzongs. Today, almost 40 years later, about 15% of the population dwell in urban townships like Thimphu, the capital, and Phuentsholing, an important border town with India. Other larger towns include Geylegphug and Samdrup Jongkhar, also bordering India in the south. Although patterns of rural-urban migration still need to be established with certainty, there is evidence that urban centres are growing fast and that especially Thimphu and Phuentsholing are the main receiving centres.