Handover Ceremony for the “Project for the Development of the Digital Topographic Map in Bhutan”

On 18th April, 2025, JICA Bhutan handed over the Topographic Maps of 1:25,000 and 1:5000 scale to the National Land Commission Secretariat (NLCS) at the Terma Linca Resort and Spa. The 1:25,000 scale map covers the North-Central region of the country of about 17,294 km² while the 1:5,000 scale map covers nine major urban areas of the country of about 500 km². With this, the 1:25,000 scale map now covers approximately 75% of the country’s total area.
Considering the critical need of the topographic maps in the decision-making for development plans in numerous fields such as infrastructure planning, urban development, disaster risk management, environmental conservation, land management and rationalization of NSDI among others, JICA supported this project through the Grant Aid for NLCS.
The project was executed by PASCO Corporation and Air Asia Survey as a Joint Venture (JV) from December 2022 to April 2025 (two years and five months). Aero Asahi Corporation and Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd. served as the consultants on behalf of the NLCS.
Under this project, three major deliverables are included:
- Digital Topographic Maps
- Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
- High-resolution satellite images.
The satellite images were already handed over to the NLCS on 17th April 2024.
The NLCS on behalf of the Royal Government of Bhutan shall remain indebted to JICA and Government of Japan for their assistance.
The handover ceremony was attended by Chief Representative of JICA Bhutan, Hon’ble Secretary of GovTech Agency, Hon’ble Secretary of International Boundary, Directors, Chiefs and representatives from various agencies including the private geospatial firm involved in the project.