NRA to mobilse local bodies to speed up house reconstruction

Kathmandu, Sept. 6:

In response to the slow progress in the post-quake reconstruction, the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has decided to mobilise the local bodies in the quake-affected areas to facilitate and expedite the reconstruction of damaged private houses and other physical structures.

A meeting of the NRA Steering Committee held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Thursday decided to entrust the local governments with the responsibility of monitoring and recommending private house reconstruction.

The Prime Minister is the chair of the committee.

The new decision is believed to help in expediting the house rebuilding process with better management and effectiveness.

Prime Minister Oli directed the reconstruction body to implement the new work plan, presented by the recently appointed NRA Chief Executive Officer Sushil Gyawali.

“The NRA will facilitate the reconstruction works that will be carried out by the local bodies and monitor them as well,” said Gyawali.

Earlier, in June 2017, the NRA had sought help from the representatives of the local bodies in distributing the house reconstruction grant. It had appealed to the local units to facilitate the grant distribution so that the beneficiaries could receive the second installment of the grant of Rs. 150,000.

It had urged the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration to mobilise the local representatives in the quake-hit areas.

Later in November last year, the NRA had issued a 28-point declaration which also included the responsibilities of the local bodies.

The Steering Committee meeting also extended the deadline for claiming the second and third tranches of the reconstruction grant till mid-January 2019 and mid-May 2019 respectively.

As per the decision, the beneficiaries who have received the first tranche (of Rs. 50,000) should now collect the second tranche (of Rs. 150,000) by the end of Poush (mid-January 2019). Similarly, those who have received the second tranche should collect the third tranche (of Rs. 100,000) by the end of Baisakh 2076 (mid-May 2019).

However, the deadline would differ for those who have been considered after hearing their grievances, those who were included after the re-survey, those living in traditional places and for those who needed to be resettled to safer places.

Earlier, in an attempt to persuade the beneficiaries to build their houses at the earliest and speed up the grant distribution, the NRA had directed the beneficiaries to collect the second tranche of the grant by mid-January 2018, which was twice extended to mid-April 2018 and mid-July this year.

As the NRA CEO Yuba Raj Bhushal’s term was cancelled with the government’s blanket decision to sack all political appointees hired by the previous Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government, the reconstruction body delayed in making the new decision even though only half of the beneficiaries had collected the second tranche within the given deadline.

Gyawali said that to facilitate the availability of the government-announced subsidised loan of Rs. 300,000 to the earthquake-affected families, the process had begun through the Ministry of Finance to revise the working modality.

Similarly, the Steering Committee has also decided to provide the government’s private housing grant, equivalent to Rs. 300,000, to the landless quake-affected families as per the place and criteria set by the local government.

CEO Gyawali also told the meeting that the process of developing a detailed work plan, along with the financial plan, has already begun to ensure that the reconstruction and rehabilitation would complete within the next two years and four months.

As per the decision, all the government staff working on the reconstruction will now be brought under the NRA and mobilised by it.

Besides, the concerned ministries would immediately provide necessary staff for the NRA, and consent would be sought from the NRA while transferring these staff.

It has decided to begin the necessary process to reimburse the government grant to those who have already received the first tranche despite having a house elsewhere and have not begun the reconstruction.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 7 September 2018.