Reconstruction: An example of better execution

In a country where a project takes decades to start and more decades to complete, – for instance Melamchi Water Supply Project has more than 13 years' time overrun and after a decade of its announcement Budhigandaki Hydroelectricity Project has not completed land acquisition – post-quake reconstruction has set an unprecedented instance of successful project implementation.

Despite political wrangling over the leadership of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) set up in the immediate aftermath of the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015, the reconstruction drive caught a desirable speed soon and it has achieved about 90 per cent progress in the five years after the establishment of the NRA.

The reconstruction body had the responsibilities to facilitate the rebuilding of the structures damaged in the quake including private houses, government buildings, schools, health facilities and infrastructures. Most of the damaged structures are reconstructed while the NRA is preparing the exit policy to handover the responsibility of the remaining work to the respective government agencies at various level. The five-year tenure of the NRA was to be completed on 25 December, 2020, the government through a cabinet decision had extended its existence by a year.

To institutionalise the experience of the post-quake rebuilding and inform the world about the good practices, the reconstruction body is organising an international conference. Earlier, it had organised a webinar to document the experiences and learnings from the reconstruction process in the country. Seven compendiums would be prepared from the processing of the webinar and presented at the international conference.

 

Private house reconstruction

Private house rebuilding is the most significant tale of the reconstruction process. About 69.7 per cent houses damaged in the quake were already reconstructed while additional 20.7 per cent are under construction which makes the total private house reconstruction progress 90.5 per cent. Approximately 560,654 houses are reconstructed. About 855,106 houses were completely or partially damaged in the powerful quakes that rocked the country on April 25 and May 12. The NRA had signed the house reconstruction grant agreement with 803,699 households and retrofitting agreement with 78,033 families. On the occasion of its fifth anniversary, the reconstruction body had said that Additional 168,083 houses would be reconstructed by the end of the current fiscal year 2020/21.

By Saturday, February 13, about 627,673 families have received the final tranche of the housing grant while 688,748 families obtained the second instalment. A family becomes eligible for the final tranche of the grant only after completing the house up to the plinth level which means the construction of about 61,075 houses is in the process of completion. The government had given Rs. 300,000 to each house for reconstruction and Rs. 100,000 for retrofitting. According to the Ministry of Finance, Rs. 5.62 billion is distributed to the beneficiaries of the reconstruction.

The budget is spent in the reconstruction and building of private housing, schools, health facilities, government buildings, heritages, road and water supply infrastructure. The NRA has planned to complete the private houses rebuilding by the end of this fiscal year. It had set the deadline to obtain the first instalment by the end of December 2020, second instalment by mid-February 2021 and third one by May 2021.

Although Rs. 300,000 grant was not sufficient to make a desired house, the amount was instrumental to motivate thousands of families to rebuild their damaged house while it was a great relief to the poor families that couldn't have built their house otherwise. In addition to it, the families at the areas that are at risk of landslides are shifted to safer locations. Such families have got Rs. 200,000 each to buy a plot of land to build a house. They were also entitled to the housing grant. Households that were financially weak have made a two room house and a separate improvised kitchen outside. Most of the houses damaged in the quake were reconstructed better with strict adherence to the 'build back better' policies and standards.

 

Devastating disaster

The first quake of 7.9 magnitude on April 25 with epicentre in Barapak of Gorkha district had immediately killed thousands of people damaged hundreds of thousands of houses and heritages while the 6.6 magnitude aftershock after two weeks reinforced the damage in 32 districts in central and eastern Nepal. About 9,000 people were killed in the earthquake. The government had surveyed 1.03 million houses and found 834,911 of them eligible for the housing grant of Rs. 300,000. However, the grant agreement was signed with 794,977 families. The number was increased recently following the NRA's decision to include additional households as the beneficiaries of the reconstruction grant.

The quake also damaged about 7,553 schools destroying more than 49,681 classrooms, 326 health facilities, 465 archaeological heritages, 415 government buildings and 216 buildings of security agencies.

According to the estimates made in the aftermath of the earthquake in 2015, it would take about Rs. 938 billion for the five-year reconstruction and rehabilitation drive but after the mid-term review of the Post Disaster Recovery Framework (PDRF), the total cost of reconstruction has been estimated at Rs. 630 billion.

 

Heritages restored

Critical historical and religious heritages damaged in the tremors have been restored to their original shape. Iconic Ranipokhari and Durbar High School, the first public school in the country, are reconstructed. The Balgopaleshwor Temple in the middle of the Ranipokhari is reconstructed in Shikhara style giving it the original shape as built by the Malla king Pratap Malla. Reconstruction of Ranipokhari had taught an important lesson to the government and civil society – there should be a joint contribution and the civil society should continuously be vigilant during the process. The Ranipokhari had remained without water for almost three years as the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Office, the Department of Archaeology (DoA) and locals were involved in the tug of war regarding the style of the temple and materials to be used in the construction.

Likewise, Dharhara reconstruction is moving smoothly and its 22^nd storey is being completed. The earlier Dharhara tower would be preserved in its damaged shape to make it a tourist as well as an archaeological destination while the newly built one will be a view tower. It will have parking at the basement, two lifts to go up and come down, digital presentation room at the 18^th storey and statue of God Mahadev as it was in the earlier Bhimsen Stambha.

The Dharhara is being developed as a complex where a two storey parking with the capacity of 400 four-wheelers and 700 two-wheelers, restored Sundhara (spout) with 24 hour water flow, money museum, shopping complex, restaurant and entertainment facilities.

Similarly, reconstruction of various heritages at the Basantapur, Patan and Bhaktapur durbar squares is completed. The United States of America, China, India, Japan and Korea had supported in the reconstruction of the historical and religious monuments. The COVID-19 pandemic had delayed the reconstruction of some structures in the durbar squares in the Kathmandu Valley and Nuwakot palace in Nuwakot district. The Nuwakot palace was used by King Prithvi Narayan Shah as his executive office before conquering the Kathmandu Valley.

According to the NRA, reconstruction of Bhairabhnath Temple palace is in the final phase of reconstruction. Bhairabhnath is one of the famous religious destination in Lumbini Province, 9 km away from Tansen. Lately, reconstruction of stupas and monasteries has also taken pace.

 

Education and health facilities

Another successful story of the reconstruction is the rebuilding of schools. Of the damaged 7,553 schools, only 139 are remaining to start rebuilding. Reconstruction of 6,085 schools is completed while 1,329 are under construction. But the same has not happened with the health facilities because more than half of the hospitals and health posts damaged in the earthquake are yet to be restored. Of the damaged 544 health facilities, only 326 are completed while the reconstruction work is not started for the remaining 228 buildings.

However, progress at the restoration of the government building is outstanding with only 7 building remaining of the 162 damaged.

The NRA had effectively coordinated with the government agencies, private sector companies and non-government ogranisations to effectively implement the reconstruction programme. Multitudes of institutions supported in house reconstruction and livelihood restoration as well as skill training and relief operations. About Rs. 372 billion was raised from the international community at the International Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction organized in the aftermath of the quake.

 

What went wrong?

The reconstruction programme was delayed in the very beginning as the two largest parties then Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) wanted to run it on their own. As the Chief Executive Officer appointed by then ruling NC through an ordinance had to leave the post as the party failed to ratify it by the parliament in a due time, UML appointed Sushil Gyawali as the CEO. Although Gyawali was briefly ousted, he had solely led the NRA to the path of the success.

However, many experts have blamed NRA for the creation of identical two-room houses across the hills and not giving proper attention to the ethnic and traditional elements in the reconstruction. Reconstruction of heritages in the Kathmandu Valley was delayed due to the negligence of the stakeholders like the NRA, DoA, KMC and civil society organisations. Had they hold consultations before launching the reconstruction of the monuments, it wouldn't have received the glitches and the rebuilding would have moved smoothly.

Similarly, the integrated settlements in the Kathmandu Valley couldn't be materialized. Much hyped Kilagal integrated residence programme miserably failed. At the same time, reconstruction of Bungamati in Lalitpur district was delayed by years and has recently caught speed.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 15 February 2021.