Quake-hit families allowed to build homes in other affected districts

Kathmandu, Oct. 16: The quake-affected families of severely-hit districts will be allowed to build their houses in the neighbouring districts.

But the neighbouring districts where the quake-hit families construct their house should also be categorised as a quake-affected area.

The new provision that allows people to construct their homes at the location of their wish either in their home or adjacent district was announced after the amendment of the Procedure on Distribution of Grant for Reconstruction of Houses, 2016.

According to the spokesperson of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), Yam Lal Bhoosal, said that the families of the areas that are at risk of landslides due to the vulnerable geological condition caused by the Gorkha Earthquake 2015 can also buy land and build house in the adjacent districts.

They will get a grant of Rs. 200,000 and Rs. 300,000 to buy the land and construct a house respectively.

He said that the Reconstruction Act 2015 barred the quake-hit families to build houses in other than the 31 affected districts.

"The families constructing their houses in their home or other quake-affected district will get the house reconstruction grant and other facilities announced by the government," said Dhruba Prasad Sharma, member of the NRA Executive Committee.

He said that the new provision would facilitate the quake-affected families that want to move to newer locations after the quake, and those who are in need of relocation due to the risk of quake-propelled landslides.

Meanwhile, the NRA, through a press statement, informed that the number of completed and houses under construction in the severely-hit 14 districts has crossed 200,000.

According to the statistics of the Central Programme Implementation Unit (CPIU) at the Ministry of Urban Development, the number of under construction and completed houses has reached 201,519 by Monday afternoon.

"Construction of 58,656 houses has been completed, and 142,863 houses are under construction. However, the number might go up as some data are yet to be updated in the information system of the  NRA due to Dashain and Tihar, the two major festivals celebrated in the country," said Prabin Acharya, an engineer at the NRA.

He said that construction had been expedited after the reconstruction body announced the deadline for obtaining the house grant, and as per the studies of the District Reconstruction Office and District Programme Implementation Unit, the number of constructed and under construction houses would reach 350,000 by the end of January 2018.

Following the directives of the Prime Minister-led Steering Committee of the NRA, the reconstruction body had set the deadline whereby the beneficiaries should collect the entire grant, in three instalments of Rs. 50,000, Rs. 150,000 and Rs. 100,000, by mid-July 2018.

As there was a huge disparity in the number of beneficiaries receiving the first tranche and the number of households building the house, the NRA announced the deadline to persuade them to build houses, said Bhoosal.

As per the decided timetable, the identified beneficiaries should sign the agreement and collect the first tranche by mid-November 2017, and the beneficiaries who have collected the first tranche by mid-January 2016 should receive their second tranche by mid-January 2017.

The NRA statistics show that the highest number of under-construction houses - 18,872 – is in Sindhupalchowk. About 6,175 houses have been constructed in the district.