Kathmandu, April 28

It appears the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), the apex body formed to lead post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation drive, has started to operate in a haphazard manner.

Its careless attitude was seen today when it formed a team of experts to identify settlements located in earthquake-prone areas, so that they could be relocated.

The NRA took this initiative at a time when it has started distributing the first instalment of the grant amount for private house reconstruction.

This begs the question: what will happen if the experts’ team finds out that settlements, where first instalments of the grant were distributed, are lying in earthquake-prone areas, and, thus, need to be relocated?

Wouldn’t that waste taxpayers’ money? And wouldn’t that disappoint earthquake survivors who have started to rebuild houses a year after the devastating quakes struck the country?

The Himalayan Times talked to NRA Spokesperson Ram Prasad Thapaliya about this issue. But he declined to comment. NRA CEO Sushil Gyewali, on the other hand, could not be contacted.

Another senior NRA official, however, acknowledged that the risk of losing money will always remain there.

The NRA is giving away a grant of Rs 200,000 to owner of each house that has been destroyed by earthquakes of last April and May. This amount is being released in three instalments of Rs 50,000, Rs 80,000 and Rs 70,000.

So far, the NRA has distributed first instalment of the grant to 661 households of two village development committees (VDCs) in Dolakha district. It has now initiated the process of extending the grant in eight VDCs of Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Kavrepalanchowk, Rasuwa, Ramechhap, Sindhuli and Okhaldhunga districts.

Soon, the NRA is planning to reach out to all 319,912 beneficiaries of the grant in 11 districts, so that they could move from temporary shelters to new quake-resilient houses.

A simple arithmetic shows that the NRA would have spent almost Rs 16 billion by the time it completes distributing first instalment of the grant.

But does the NRA even realise it would lose Rs four billion of taxpayers’ money even if a fourth of the areas where the grant was distributed is identified as vulnerable to earthquakes?

Did the NRA deliberate on this issue before?

I/NGOs warned

KATHMANDU: The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has once again called upon non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and international NGOs to acquire permission from the NRA before implementing tasks related to post-earthquake reconstruction. The NRA reiterated its call after it was informed that some NGOs had started rebuilding private houses in Rainoskot and other areas of Lamjung district. “The NRA has come up with a guideline on NGO Mobilisation. So, all works related to reconstruction and rehabilitation should be conducted after obtaining necessary permission from the NRA,” says an NRA statement. — HNS