More than two years have passed since the devastating earthquakes shook the country leaving thousands dead and damaging physical infrastructure. However, reconstruction process so far has been lethargic with earthquake victims yet to get full tranche of housing grant and a majority of damaged physical infrastructure yet to be rebuilt. Sujan Dhungana of The Himalayan Times caught up with Chief Executive Officer of National Reconstruction Authority Govinda Raj Pokharel to discuss problems hindering the reconstruction process and NRA’s future plans. Excerpts: It has been more than two years since devastating earthquakes rattled the country. Where has the reconstruction process reached? The post-quake reconstruction process of Nepal is almost one year late as compared to the reconstruction process of other nations after the earthquake. A number of reasons have affected the fluent reconstruction of Nepal after the earthquake which includes delay in formation of Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA), difficult working mechanism of NRA and lack of skilled human resources in rural areas, among others. However, we are committed to speed up the reconstruction process. As we have already distributed the first tranche of housing grant of Rs 50,000 to quake beneficiaries, NRA now is focusing on the distribution of second tranche of housing grant and is doing the needful to make sure that every quake beneficiary receives the second tranche fulfilling essential requirements. The distribution process of first tranche of housing grant was quite easy as it was distributed to every quake beneficiary identified by the government. However, it is comparatively challenging to distribute the second tranche and make every quake beneficiary eligible for it as beneficiaries will get the second tranche only if they have rebuilt their houses as per the building code set by the government. As per the latest record with NRA, around 30,000 quake beneficiaries have already built their houses and more than 100,000 quake-hit houses are under construction. Regarding the second tranche of housing grant, almost 60,000 beneficiaries have submitted their applications and 40,000 among them have already received the second tranche. Comparatively lower number of quake beneficiaries have taken the second tranche of housing grant so far compared to first tranche. This is because NRA has made sure that the households have complied to the building guidelines set by the government while distributing the second tranche. Definitely, the distribution of the second tranche has been slow but what matters is houses need to be rebuilt as per the standard so that they are quake-resistant. As soon as quake beneficiaries start rebuilding houses as per the building code of the government the number of beneficiaries taking second tranche will increase. The distribution of third tranche of housing grant will be easier compared to distribution of first and second tranches. The reconstruction process of other damaged physical infrastructure including cultural heritage sites is also going on smoothly. Are the quake-hit households, especially in rural areas, aware of the government’s guideline for reconstructing their houses? NRA believes that quake beneficiaries are now aware of the building code of the government and other rules that will make them eligible for the second tranche of housing grant. Despite being aware of the government’s guideline some quake beneficiaries adopted a few wrong measures in the past to rebuild their houses, which is why we have not been able to issue second tranche of housing grant to all those who applied for it. However, we have already issued a ‘Correction Manual’ targeting the quake beneficiaries who have partially or fully rebuilt their houses but have failed to comply with the building code of the government and people are in the process of retrofitting their houses. We have also recently deployed a team of 27 experts in 14 earthquake-affected districts to support engineers stationed in these districts to reconstruct houses and facilitate quake beneficiaries to reconstruct their houses as per the set mandate. As quake beneficiaries have already started to rebuild their houses as per the correction manual, NRA will start issuing second tranche of housing grant to those who had applied for it but had been deprived for not fulfilling the building code. NRA is facing tremendous pressure to accelerate the distribution of second and third tranches of housing grant. It is being delayed only because NRA believes that housing grant should be distributed not only for the sake of distribution, but to fulfil the objective of rebuilding safer and stronger houses. NRA has been repeatedly saying that lack of skilled human resources is the major reason behind sluggish reconstruction activities. What is being done to address the issue? A majority of the work that NRA is doing today is through outsourcing on need-basis as NRA does not have its own inbuilt mechanism. We have human resources gap in the sites rather than in NRA itself. In a bid to fulfil this gap, we are all set to host training programmes in 45 places of the 17 earthquake-hit districts while NRA is already running human resources training programmes in a few districts. The training is expected to generate skilled manpower that can contribute to reconstruction activities and bridge the human resources gap in reconstruction activities in remote areas. Realising that lack of skilled human resources is the major cause to delay in reconstruction of houses and other physical infrastructure damaged by the earthquake, NRA is fully dedicated now in generating required human resources. We should realise that reconstruction is an opportunity to rebuild a stronger and prosperous Nepal. What progress has NRA made to relocate vulnerable settlements identified by the government? We have identified different vulnerable settlements after the earthquake in five districts and have deployed our technical team to plan resettlement of such communities. Moreover, we have introduced Vulnerable Settlement Relocation and Rehabilitation Procedure, 2017, to regulate relocation and rehabilitation process of families residing in earthquake affected settlements. We have introduced a provision whereby such vulnerable settlements will be shifted to an integrated settlement that will be developed by the government with all the necessary infrastructural facilities. Similarly, we also recently decided to provide additional aid of Rs 200,000 to those vulnerable families who want to shift to safer places on their own. There are 2,361 families identified by the government in vulnerable districts who need to be shifted to a safer place. With reconstruction of physical infrastructure yet to start in full-swing, will NRA be able to complete entire reconstruction process within its deadline of 2021? The reconstruction of comparatively small physical infrastructure affected by the quake like hospitals, educational institutions and houses is going on in full-swing and will be completed on schedule. However, reconstruction of big physical infrastructure like cultural heritage sites is unlikely to be completed in the given time. This is because cultural heritage sites and sites of archaeological importance have to be reconstructed in a way that their originality is maintained. For this we need greater effort, plan and designs. NRA is optimistic reconstruction of all damaged physical structures except historically and culturally iconic structures will be completed on time. Moreover, we have recently decided to mobilise all local units of the government to expedite the reconstruction process by facilitating reconstruction of damaged physical infrastructure including houses at the local level. This move is also expected to give pace to reconstruction works. Lately, NRA has been criticised for its slow budget spending capacity, which consequently has also affected the overall budget expenditure of the government for the ongoing fiscal year. What is your take on this? It is true the budget allotted for reconstruction has not been spent properly. However, it is to be noted that NRA does not spend budget on its own. Rather, related ministries are required to spend the budget for reconstruction in their respective sectors. NRA only gives budget to different ministries for reconstruction projects under it. While Ministry of Education should spend budget to rebuild education institutions, Ministry of Health should spend reconstruction budget to rebuild health institutions. Due to failure of different ministries to spend allocated budget NRA subsequently has not been able to spend the budget that was allotted to it. However, reconstruction budget will be spent properly in coming fiscal year as reconstruction process will be in full-swing across the country next fiscal.