50 % quake damaged schools, health and government buildings rebuilt

Kathmandu, Nov. 10: The government has completed more than 50 per cent reconstruction of the quake damaged health and educational infrastructure and government building.

The devastating Gorkha Earthquake in 2015 had damaged 1,197 health institution, 7,553 schools and 415 government buildings in quake affected districts.

Similarly, 753 cultural heritages, 383 buildings of security agencies and 3,212 water supply infrastructure were damaged in the tremors.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) said that of the 1197 damaged health facilities, 643 had been reconstructed – 312 were rebuilt and 331 were retrofitted.

About 145 health institutions are under construction or being retrofitted.

Similarly, 4,100 schools have been rebuilt and 2,369 are under construction. Total number of schools that need reconstruction are 7,553.

Deputy Spokesperson of the NRA Manohar Ghimire said that the progress at the school reconstruction was quite satisfactory, and the reconstruction work would be started at all damaged school within this fiscal year.

Likewise, of the 415 quake damaged government buildings, more than 248 have been reconstructed while 145 are under construction.

However, the reconstruction of cultural heritages is lagging behind as only 201 cultural monuments have been rebuilt till now while 753 heritages were damaged in the quake.

Ghimire said that the reconstruction of all heritages, including Dharhara and Kasthamandap, would be completed within the remaining two-year tenure of the reconstruction body.

“Dharhara has been awarded to the private sector contractor with a two-year construction timeframe and rebuilding of Kasthamandap will also be expedited soon. Reconstruction of smaller heritages is not a big issue,” he said.

According to the NRA, of the 383 buildings of the security agencies damaged by the quake, only 93 have been rebuilt. The construction of the damaged water supply infrastructure is yet to catch speed since only 791 projects have been completed so far while 3,212 projects were damaged by the earthquake.

About 670 water supply projects are under construction. Under-construction and remaining projects have been handed over to the responsible agencies at the central and local governments.

Reconstruction progress:

Area	Damaged	Reconstructed	Under-construction
Health Facilities	1197	643	145
Schools	7553	4100	2369
Govt. Buildings	415	248	145
Heritages	753	201	309
Security Agency Buildings	383	93	112
Water Supply	3212	791	670

Source: NRA

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 11 November 2018.