The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), in line with the decision of the 10th steering committee meeting last week, has designated specific time for obtaining grant for the reconstruction of private homes. According to the NRA, quake survivors of 31 districts should obtain the grant by mid-July 2018.

 According to the authority, the beneficiaries should sign the agreement and collect the first tranche by mid-November 2017.

Those who have collected the first tranche by mid-January 2016 should receive their second tranche by mid-January 2017. For the beneficiaries who received the first tranche by mid-November 2017 should collect the second tranche by mid-April 2018.

The beneficiaries who received the second tranche by mid-January 2018 should receive the third tranche by mid-June 2018 and those obtaining second tranche by mid-January 2017 should obtain third tranche by mid-July 2018.

According to NRA Spokesperson Yam Lal Bhusal, specific time has been designated to expedite the post-earthquake reconstruction process.

The latest statistics show that 628,822 households have reached the grant agreement with the government. Of them, 594,150 households have received the first installment, while only 52,166 have received the second instalment so far.

The NRA said the slow progress in reconstruction of private homes was due to specific time wasn’t set for programmes initiated by the authority. “People are of the view that they can start reconstruction of home anytime in the future. This is why we have come up with a time table,” Bhusal said, explaining that a large chunk of additional resources allocated by the authority to the concerned districts for facilitating second and third tranches on time has remained unspent.

In the immediate aftermath of the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, the government decided to provide Rs200,000 per household as private housing rebuilding aid, which was later increased to Rs300,000 to be distributed in three instalments—Rs 50,000, Rs 150,000 and Rs 100,000. The amount is being disbursed in three instalments for ensuring that the quake survivors rebuild quake resilient homes in line with the compliance and design set by the government.