Kathmandu, June 28 Of the 720,742 identified beneficiaries of 2015 earthquake that had signed the grant agreement with the government, 500,736 households or 69.47 per cent have begun construction of their houses so far. Issuing a press statement today, officials of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) informed that 194,731 beneficiaries have already completed rebuilding their houses. NRA statistics show that housing reconstruction is in full-swing, especially in districts like Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Dhading, Gorkha, Dolakha, Kavre and Ramechhap, among others. While 73,419 houses are being rebuilt in Sindhupalchowk, 64,161 quake-affected houses in Nuwakot and 59,398 houses in Dhading are currently under construction. Likewise, reconstruction of 52,448 houses in Gorkha, 52,235 houses in Dolakha, 43,802 houses in Kavre and 38,342 houses in Ramechhap is ongoing, as per NRA. NRA also stated that pace of reconstruction of houses has been accelerated in the less quake-affected districts. NRA has so far distributed first tranche of housing grant to 712,013 identified beneficiaries. Meanwhile, it has approved second tranche of housing grant to 457,536 beneficiaries and third instalment of housing grant to 212,719 beneficiaries. YubarajBhusal, chief executive officer of NRA, said that the government’s move to set a deadline for housing grant distribution, coordination with the local governments and availability of technical manpower at the local level has helped the entire reconstruction process of quake-damaged houses. The government has set the deadline of December-end for beneficiaries to collect all the three tranches of the housing grant. Meanwhile, ManoharGhimire, deputy spokesperson for NRA, informed that 33,431 new beneficiaries for housing grant have been identified out of the 237,085 grievances NRA had received from across the country. All the beneficiaries of the housing grant are receiving Rs 300,000 from the government in three instalments. Reconstruction update Number of houses under reconstruction...............................500,736 Reconstruction completed...........................................................194,731 Total beneficiaries of housing grants.......................................781,733 Eligible beneficiaries for retrofitting.........................................29,493 Agreement signed............................................................................720,743 First tranche distribution................................................................712,013 Second tranche approval...............................................................455,581 Third tranche approval ...................................................................206,892 Source: NRA