With not many takers for the Chanchay CSI park in Tsirang, the Dzongkhag stakeholders are looking for a change in ingredients to be shelved out of the facility
Deprived of enough proponents, relevant agencies are contemplating on transforming the Chanchay Cottage and Small Industries (CSI) Park in Tsirang to an agricultural hub that could benefit farmers from the entire dzongkhag.
The dzongkhag’s economic development officer said that they have verbally consulted the Department of Industries (DoI) and the Ministry to look into the matter as not many takers are coming forward to run the park.
“What we have proposed is for a hub where farmers can grow, develop, package and market their products all from within the park’s premises,” the officer said. “This way, not only so many public and private resources will be saved, but farmers from the entire dzongkhag can bring their products here to be readily sold or marketed.”
“The park is not working out like the way Ministry planned, so we thought why let the investments on infrastructures go in vain. We are planning for collaboration between different sectors that could eventually benefit the local people economically,” a dzongkhag official said.
A livestock official also shared that the park could cater to the livestock farmers in the vicinity as well as other gewogs as well. “All livestock products like milk, cheese and butter could be well packaged and marketed from the park. People need not go anywhere to sell it once we set up the processing plants,” he added.
Access to finance was deemed as the main hurdle, keeping investors at bay from the 1 acre CSI Park. The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment (MoICE) last month said that there are not enough takers for the vacant plots.
Of the 9 plots available, 3 plots have been allotted while 6 plots remained vacant. These include the manufacturing processed cheese and ice cream, production of fruit juices using local fruits, processing of meat, including sausage production, ham production, meat segmentation, packaging and marketing, production of fruit juices, and production of nutraceutical foods from organic raw materials.
Vacant plot announcements have been made in the past, and applicants have been provisionally allotted the land. However, many withdrew citing financial and personal reasons.
“Most of them withdrew because of difficulty in accessing finance as proponents do not have collateral to pledge for loans,” MoICE Secretary, Tashi Wangmo said.
She said that for the park to be successful, the private sector should be coming forward. “The government can only set up the facilities, which we have done even prior to the pandemic.”
“A common facility where packaging and labeling could be done is also under construction and will be operationalized soon. Not only the CSIs, but people from the nearby areas can also make use of the facility,” the Secretary added.
The Changchey Industrial Park in Tsirang was planned under the pilot “CSI Industrial Park” of the Startup and CSI Development program in 2020 and was completed by July 2021.
Initially, in 2021, nine plots were allotted to prospective businesses. However, these plans failed when all nine businesses withdrew their proposals, primarily due to difficulties in securing loans amidst the moratorium and other COVID-19 related challenges.
The park is situated on a level ground which separates Semjong and Gosarling gewogs of Tsirang dzongkhag on the banks of the famous Chanchay river.
The previous government stated that the construction work was impacted by the pandemic, and another reason was the high level of Non-Performing Loans (NPL) which caused the National CSI Development Bank and BDBL to freeze loans.
The new businesses faced challenges, particularly in obtaining food clearance certificates from the Bhutan Food and Drug Authority (BFDA). In response, the Department has proactively engaged with BFDA, which has instructed its Tsirang office to issue provisional certificates. This will enable businesses to proceed with obtaining their business licenses.
Additionally, the Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC) has upgraded the transformer at the site to meet the power demands of the new industries, based on the Department’s request.
Although the basic amenities were reported to be completed during the first government’s tenure, not a single unit was established. The Department of Industry also collaborated with other Dzongkhags and Gewogs to attract more applicants to the park, aiming to fully utilize the available plots and support the growth of the local economy.
Spread over an area of 1 acre, the park is designed to accommodate approximately 14 CSIs. The project is worth approximately Nu 52 million and was aimed at leveraging Tsirang’s rich agricultural produce to boost local industry.
Tashi Namgyal from Thimphu
