Kathmandu, March 6

Earthquake victims of Dolakha district will soon be able to receive the first installment of the grant from the government to rebuild their houses as the National Reconstruction Authority (NAR) is going to start the programme by this week.

The NAR has said that the first installment or 25 per cent of the total grant amount worth Rs 200,000 announced by the government to provide support in rebuilding of individual houses will be distributed first from Singati of Dolakha district. The procedural stipulations to sign the grant agreement with house owners have been completed, said Sushil Gyewali, chief executive officer of NAR, today.

NAR will release the grant amount in three installments to the beneficiaries. The first installment of 25 per cent of the grant amount will be released to start construction of the house. The second installment of 40 per cent will be released when the majority of the construction works are completed and the third installment of 35 per cent will be released during the time of roofing. The grant amount will be transferred to the quake victims through bank accounts.

NAR has said that the beneficiary can relocate the new construction from the earlier site as per their convenience but the hose owner must follow the designs stipulated by NAR, according to Gyewali. NAR has unveiled 17 different designs of houses and in villages locals can use local construction materials with earthquake resilient technology.

The process to establish a resource centre in Dolakha has been expedited to facilitate the individuals in rebuilding earthquake resilient residences by providing them technical know-how and designs, among others. In the first lot, the grant amount will be distributed to the surrounding Village Development Committees (VDCs) of the resource centre — Laduk, Lamidada, Babare, Bigu, Chilankha and Alampu — and expanded to other places following the completion of beneficiary survey being conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

The CBS has been authorised to collect data of quake-affected households and it has already concluded the data collection programme in two VDCs — Laduk and Lamidada.

Similarly, NAR has an aim to complete the survey of quake-affected individual houses and registration of grant recipients by mid–May this year in 11 affected districts except Kathmandu Valley. To expedite the survey process that determines the beneficiaries list, altogether 1,470 engineers have been mobilised in the quake-affected districts.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 475 settlements in 188 VDCs outside Kathmandu Valley are not suitable for settlement. A total of 19,100 households are under the risk of disasters induced by the devastating earthquakes and powerful aftershocks of April and May last year. The government has already relocated 6,945 most vulnerable households of 193 settlements. NAR has said it has given high priority to the resettlement of people from the disaster-prone places.

The survey in Kathmandu Valley will be conducted once the CBS concludes survey works of 11 affected districts outside the Valley. But the reconstruction of individual households in Bungamati and Khokana of Karyabinayak Municipality, Lalitpur, and Balgopal Temple of Ranipokhari, which had been inaugurated during the launch of the Reconstruction Mega Campaign on January 16 this year, will be expedited, according to Gyewali.

NAR is also preparing a guideline to mobilise assistance from non-governmental organisations for reconstruction and

rehabilitation purposes. As it has already announced to formulate and unveil all the required policies, guidelines and plans required to accelerate the reconstruction drive within three months, NAR will soon unveil the five-year plan for reconstruction.