NRA proposes Rs. 200k grant for relocation

Kathmandu, Apr. 9:

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has proposed an additional grant of up to Rs. 200,000to those families whose houses need to be relocated to a safer place due to the landslide risks posed by the 2015 earthquake.

“The reconstruction body has submitted a proposal to the Cabinet to provide financial assistance to the quake-affected households that do not have land to build a house or have lost it in the landslides during the tremors,” said spokesperson of the NRA Yam Lal Bhoosal.

The NRA is mulling over three alternatives to address the issue – providea reconstruction grant of Rs. 300,000 to the quake-hit families even if they have built their house in a safer place; provide an additional grant of up to Rs. 200,000 to households to buy land for a house; and invite national and international non-government organisations to help in the relocation process.

Bhoosal said that the priority was on transferring the families at risk rather than relocating an entire settlement.

According to Kamal Ghimire, chief survey officer of the Land Management and Geological Study Section at the NRA, 111 settlements in the quake-affected districts need to be relocated.

The Department of Mines and Geology (DMG) last year had recommended relocating 56 settlements while a study by the NRA this year found that 55 villages needed to be shifted elsewhere.

But all the households in the settlements need not be moved from their original places.

"Less than half of the total settlements - about 40 – have more than 20 families that need to be relocated. About 10 families from 50 settlementsneed to be translocated to a safer place," said Ghimire.

Moreover, some areas can be saved by constructing retaining walls and implementing bio-engineering methods.

According to the Act related to the Reconstruction of the Earthquake Affected Structures, 2015, the NRA has been assigned to develop norms as required for the development of integrated settlements, integrated house pooling, rehabilitation and translocation, identify appropriate sites and formulate and implementplans for the same.

The geological survey teams had studied whether the settlements were safe, needed precautionary measures or demanded urgent relocation.

From its preliminary observations, the government had concluded that the earthquakes had weakened the geology in the mid-hills and mountains, and approximately 475 villages needed to be shifted from their current locations.

Exactly a year ago, the reconstruction body had formulated an Expert Committee to study and suggest on the relocation of the quake-ravaged settlements that were at risk of landslides.

The committee is led by its Steering Committee member Dr. Tara Nidhi Bhattarai.