Kathmandu, October 25

The newly appointed Chief Executive Officer at the National Reconstruction Authority Yubaraj Bhusal reasoned that post-quake reconstruction efforts were still lagging behind due to lack of adequate technical human resources.

At an interaction held at Reporters’ Club here today, CEO Bhusal pledged to recruit and train technicians as required by the rural municipalities and municipalities across the country for the same.

According to him, of the total 1,100 technicians selected for the reconstruction effort, more than 900 had placed their requests to retain them in Kathmandu Valley. “Since a majority of the technicians are city-centred, the reconstruction drive in remote areas is still a distant dream,” Bhusal argued. Referring to the international donors’ conference held in 2015 in the wake of the Gorkha earthquakes, he said that the NRA could organise similar kind of conference yet again if the arises.

The newly appointed CEO of NRA clarified that the reconstruction drive was not affected due to financial constraints but due to failure to mobilise resources by the Authority.

He shared that the NRA had ensured the release of more than Rs 1.49 billion fund in the current fiscal for reconstruction of 767,000 houses. More than 87,000 quake-survivors have received the second instalment of Rs 300,000 relief assistance.