KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 22

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has directed the bodies concerned to complete the remaining reconstruction works of projects handed over to them in time.

PM Deuba, who is also the Chairperson of the National Reconstruction Authority Directive Committee, gave this instruction in its 21st meeting today. PM Deuba presided over the meeting.

On the occasion, PM Deuba gave assurances that there would not be shortage of budget for carrying out the remaining reconstruction works.

The prime minister also thanked the entire national and international communities who extended cooperation for reconstruction of structures damaged due to the 2015 Gorkha earthquakes and for rehabilitation of displaced families.

Vice-chair of the Directive Committee and CPN-UML leader Subas Nembang suggested to keep the experiences and lessons learnt from the reconstruction campaign in institutional memory. He also stressed on making the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority more autonomous and high-powered.

Explaining about the achievements of the reconstruction drive, Chief Executive Officer Sushil Gyewali suggested that the disaster resilience development be taken forward as an integral part of the national development policy.

He said the NDRRMA should be invested with special legal authority and financial management. 'It should be provided with human resources as per requirement,' he stressed.

Today's meeting of the NRA Directive Committee also took a decision regarding the transfer of the NRA's activities and obligations, liabilities, assets, deeds, documents and particulars.

With this, the facilitation, coordination and monitoring of the works related to reconstruction and rehabilitation carried out by the NRA and handed over to (or being carried out through) various ministries, departments and bodies will now be done through the NDRRMA.

Likewise, it was informed in the meeting that the NDRRMA was given the responsibility of preparing the integrated financial report of the NRA's current and capital expenditures for the fiscal 2021-22 and carrying out the auditing task.

It is stated that the NDRRMA shall also oversee the earthquake shelter reconstruction project under implementation as per the agreement with the World Bank as well as works related to technical assistance, compensation and report concerning the Multi-Donor Trust Fund.

According to the NRA, the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction under the Ministry of Urban Development shall look after the physical construction works of Dharahara, Singha Durbar, Shantibatika section of Ranipokhari, Harihar Bhawan and Ranoddip Durbar under the Narayanhiti Museum.

The NRA is directly supervising these construction works at present.

Ranipokhari which has been rebuilt recently will be handed over to Kathmandu Metropolitan City Office.

The related registers and documents under the Central Project Implementation Unit (Building), the Central Project Implementation Unit (Education) and the Central Project Implementation Unit (Grant Management and Local Infrastructure) were already handed over to the ministries and departments concerned in the second week of September.

The meeting has expressed happiness at the successful convening of the International Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction through virtual and physical means from December 7 to 9 in Kathmandu even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It also thanked the representatives and delegates, including the foreign affairs ministers, ministers and deputy ministers of various countries as well as representatives of several bilateral and multilateral donor agencies who addressed the conference by virtual or physical means.

Present in the meeting today were Minister of Education, Science and Technology Devendra Paudel, Minister of Urban Development Ram Kumari Jhankri, Chief Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, NDRR- MA Chief Executive Anil Pokharel, secretaries of the NRA and various ministries, members of the Directive Committee, NRA Executive Committee members, among other officials.

The National Reconstruction Authority was established with the objective of expediting reconstruction of the physical damages caused by the massive earthquakes of April 25 and 12 May 2015 and their subsequent aftershocks.

It was officially established with the appointment of Gyewali as the Chief Executive Officer on 25 December 2015, according to the Article 3 of the Act Related to the Reconstruction of Earthquake Affected Structures, 2015.

According to Article 3(2) of the Act Related to the Reconstruction of Earthquake Affected Structures, 2015, the jurisdiction/scope of work of the NRA shall be specified by the Government of Nepal through a notification in the Nepal Gazette.

Accordingly, as per the notification in the Nepal Gazette by the Government of Nepal, 32 districts, including 14 highly affected and 18 less affected districts, fall under the scope of work of the NRA.

The NRA's term will come to an end on December 24.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 23, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.