150,000 houses to be completed by July 15, says NRA

Kathmandu, June 29: The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has said that by the end of the current fiscal year 2016/17, about 150,000 private houses would be built in the districts hit by the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015.

"So far, 30,000 houses construction was completed with full compliance with the quake-resistance building practices. As the reconstruction of the private houses has caught the desirable speed, we hope that additional 120,000 houses would be constructed by the end of this fiscal year," said Dr. Govinda Raj Pokharel, chief executive officer of the NRA.

He made the comments at a discussion on 'Nepal post disaster reconstruction experience: current status and lessons learnt' organised by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (Sawtee) in association with the Asia Foundation.

Saying that grievance handling was one of the biggest challenge in the reconstruction process, Dr. Pokharel informed that the reconstruction body was planning to mobilize additional 293 engineers in the field to address the complaints registered by the people to the government.

"Similarly, more than 45,000 families have complained that though their house was completely damaged in the tremors, surveyors did not observe it," he said.

According to him, as the engineers and technical manpower will be managed by the local bodies, the reconstruction process would move efficiently.

He cited the shortage of skilled manpower, insufficient government grant, and perception that the house would be built by the government as the major reasons behind the delay in the reconstruction process.

Former member of the NRA Steering Committee Kishore Thapa said that the reconstruction of private houses was slow because people wanted to build larger and better house than that they previously owned.

"There is the situation in the village that if you don't have concrete house with pillars you lose reputation," he said.

He noted that the country should have adopted indigenous models tested successfully such as project model applied during the reconstruction post- 1988 quake, ministry model adopted in conflict management or development committee model as implemented in Chure conservation rather than importing the Gujrat or Pakistan's authority model.

Presenting a paper on the post-quake reconstruction, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission Dr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel said that the authority for the post-quake reconstruction should be decentralized in order to expedite the process.

"Now with the local authorities gaining a footing in the local governance, issues related to aid distribution, reconstruction and governance is expected to take place with greater accountability," he said.