Druk Yung Drung Innovation and Investment Zone Pvt Ltd

To a good man’s family and friends. My deepest condolences and prayers that you can learn from his tougher memories and live well from the good memories. He will be sorely missed. He deserved better and so many do. He who saw humor, bravery and a cavalier attitude toward overbearing authority, with respect for the good. May Dasho rest in peace.

Om mani padme hung

In 2021, South African-American entrepreneur Art Finch began pitching government officials in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on a moonshot idea: transforming Gelephu, a sleepy, scenic town on its border with neighboring India, into an experimental, “eco-industrial” charter city.

The tiny town, he argued, was perfectly positioned to become a hub for free thinkers and innovators around the world who would bring their knowledge and wealth to Bhutan. It would be a commercial paradise of green architecture and sustainable industry. More importantly, Finch’s startup, backed by one of billionaire Peter Thiel’s VC firms, had secured letters of intent from 19 foreign tech companies including lab grown diamond unicorn Diamond Foundry, British drone startup Dronamics, and Finnish carbon capture operator Carbo Culture to become inaugural tenants in Yung Drung City, which it claimed would provide an economic jolt to a country still emerging from decades of self-imposed isolation.

“21st century development in the last Shangri-La,” the utopian project teased on its website.

Now, that future has arrived. Forbes has learned that the “Dragon King” Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck will officially announce a “megacity” in a royal address on Sunday, according to four sources with knowledge of the event.

Read more: https://trib.al/KeIFx3l

Forbes just published on the planned Mega City and the history (see link in comments)

In Response to the Statement by the Prime Minister's Office:

The photos of our team meeting the prime minister and other ministers are real. The Prime Minister's office agreeing he will attend the event is real. We did not state the government had authorized us to develop the Gelephu City project, we shared the simple truth that we developed this idea and have been promoting it for years. We are honored that the vision of the project is being taken up, and we are ready to continue in our role. The Prime Minister being offended by the publicity and what people may assume about us being authorized is all that happened here. Stating that we are a scam, when we had a licensed FDI in Bhutan (which license was revoked in past 48 hours) is cruelly dishonest. It is worse that the government is targeting the very organizations that have worked hardest to try and bring entrepreneurship and development to the country, to do what is right for the country and bring the Gelephu Private city project as a way to develop it. If anyone can prove anything about a scam from us, please, tell us. Because the only scam we can see is a government that will take an excellent proposal and all our hard work and then not allow us to deliver on the project, and attack our company, family and innocent people including young hard working Bhutanese entrepreneurs who have sacrificed so much opportunity to try and serve the country. I am ashamed of this government. No wonder half the country has voted with it's feet to fly away. We wanted to help, and we did all we can to help. The internal video which is 100% true (because it does not say we are authorized only that this was our project) that was leaked to the public has simply offended the government. This heavy handed response is exactly why investors are afraid to come into Bhutan. Bhutan would do well not to force ourselves to defend ourselves in international press, and retract the deeply misleading and cruelly dishonest letter put out by the Prime Minister's office.

Worth a listen la

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