Kathmandu, January 10

Chief Executive Officer of National Reconstruction Authority Sushil Gyewali today pledged to complete post-earthquake reconstruction work within two years.

Presenting a progress report and forthcoming action plan for reconstruction at a meeting of Sustainable Development and Good Governance Committee of the Federal Parliament, he said  there were only two years left for expiry of the mandate of the NRA and hence all reconstruction work would be completed within that period.

He informed that reconstruction of 77 per cent private housings, 80 per cent school buildings, 95 per cent government buildings, 68 per cent archaeological heritages and monuments, 54 per cent buildings of security agencies had been completed in the past three years of the establishment of the NRA. The progress report of the reconstruction work also include under-construction structures.

“We have expedited post-quake reconstruction work. As we are working on the basis of previously set goals and plans, there is not doubt that we will be able to complete the remaining work within December 27, 2020,” CEO Gyewali told the parliamentary panel.

He also informed that 99 per cent of the beneficiaries, who signed the grant agreement, had already collected its first tranche and called on them to reconstruct their houses. “No earthquake victim will miss out on receiving grants and rebuilding house, and none of them will be repeated. The NRA has initiated the process of transferring the responsibility of facilitating reconstruction activities to the local levels by providing them with necessary resources and means,” he said.

According to the NRA, reconstruction work is going on in 272 local levels of 32 earthquake-affected districts. The paper prepared for agreements between local levels and the NRA mentions that engineers, sub-engineers, assistant sub-engineers and masons will be deployed as required in the municipalities and rural municipalities, and the local levels will have the responsibility of administrative activities such as employing all human resources deployed from the NRA in reconstruction works, and maintaining their attendance records.

Likewise, the agreements say that the human resources deployed from the NRA should be employed only in reconstruction works; the NRA can arrange to provide a lump sum budget with conditions to the municipalities and rural municipalities for local infrastructure projects to be executed by local governments such as monasteries, and integrated settlements; municipalities/rural municipalities will prepare and execute local reconstruction action plan and the NRA will provide necessary support on this.

CEO Gyewali said the NRA, in collaboration with the local levels, would conduct a survey again to ensure that those missed out in the previous survey were incorporated on the list of beneficiaries entitled to receive grants.

On the occasion, the committee members had inquired him about the foreign assistance and role of non-governmental agencies in private housing reconstruction, house pooling and heritage reconstruction. They also committed to extending their full support to the NRA for making the reconstruction work a success within the stipulated time.