NRA completes handover of remaining reconstruction projects

 Kathmandu, Sept. 21

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has completed handing over the remaining post-quake rebuilding work to other concerned government authorities. On Monday, it formally handed over the remaining task in the culture and tourism sector to the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation (MoCTCA).

It had begun the transfer of the remaining task to the concerned agencies from last week.

Remaining work of private house and settlement development, and heritage and monasteries rebuilding is handed over to the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), an agency under the Ministry of Urban Development.

The programmes including financial and technical management are now the responsibilities of the DUDBC.

Rebuilding of educational institutions is transferred to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the ministry has in turn handed over the programmes to the district offices.

Likewise, incomplete roads and bridges, as well as the reconstruction of the monasteries less than 100 years old are handed over to the Department of Local Infrastructure Development.

An NRA Steering Committee meeting on 25 August had decided to hand over the remaining tasks to the concerned agencies.

Likewise, the reconstruction body had asked the remaining beneficiaries to get the house reconstruction grant by mid-December this year. It had extended the deadline for many times in the past as well.

Deputy Spokesperson of the NRA Manohar Ghimire said that the NRA will now focus on the remaining construction of Dharhara, Singha Durbar, Ranoddip Palace at the Narayanhiti Palace Museum and Ranipokhari.  It will facilitate and coordinate in the remaining rebuilding work, and monitor the progress at the central level. However, decision about the heritages like Tri-Chandra College building in Jamal and Nepal Sanskrit University’s building in Basantapur is yet to be made.

All the information and knowledge system will be handed over to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

To share the lessons learnt during the reconstruction drive in the past six years, the NRA will organise an international conference on Nepal’s reconstruction on 7-9 December, 2021.

“To institutionalise the knowledge produced during the reconstruction process, documentation work is ongoing. We are trying our best to preserve the learning and experiences,” said Ghimire.

The devastating earthquake in April 2015 had killed about 9,000 people, and damaged 866,087 houses, as per the updated statistics of the NRA.

The NRA had signed house reconstruction grant agreement with 827,340 households while first installment of the grant was distributed to 827,478 families.

Of them, 741,031 families have received the second installment and 694,565 families the third installment. Reconstruction of about 615,924 houses is completed. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 September 2021.