99 pc households receive first tranche of housing grant

Kathmandu, June 9: The government has distributed the first installation of the house reconstruction grant to almost 99 per cent households that lost their houses in the devastating Gorkha Earthquake 2015.

According to the recent statistics published by the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), of the 718,962 families that signed the grant agreement with the government, 710,210 families have received the first tranche of the grant, Rs. 50,000.

However, the ratio stands at 91.62 per cent if the number of grant recipient is compared with the total number beneficiaries, 775,127 families.

It has been more than three years and a month since the devastating hit the nation that killed about 9,000 people, damaged about a million houses and inflicted loss of almost Rs. 800 billion but it’s been about 28 months of the NRA establishment.

The government had surveyed about a million households in 32 quake-hit districts during the damage assessment in the immediate aftermath of the quake.

The reconstruction body said that about 161,000 houses have been reconstructed in the quake-affected areas, and 481,180 houses are under construction.

It has aimed at completing the construction of 450,000 houses by mid-July 2018.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NRA Yuba Raj Bhusal expressed hope that the target would be met and said, “We have mobilised our efforts and resources towards meeting the goal of private house reconstruction. I am confident that we will meet the target.”

Speaking in a programme recently he said that the reconstruction body was sending more engineers and technicians to the field and increased the monitoring activities.

So far, 138,165 households have received the third installation of the housing grant of Rs. 100,000 while another 178,880 households have been proved eligible for the third tranche.

These figures indicate that the NRA could achieve its target since the third tranche of the grant is distribution means the house are in the last stage of construction.

The house reconstruction caught speed after the NRA announced deadlines to receive the first, second and third installation with a target of completing the house building by 2019.

According to the statistics, 405,568 quake-hit families have received the second installation of the grant, and 447,145 families have applied for the second tranche, Rs. 150,000.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 10 June 2018.