National Reconstruction Authority is going to establish resource centres clustering four to five VDCs for reconstruction. It will have a detailed roster on the availability of human resources in the area and will offer training where required skills for reconstruction do not exist. It will also help introduce safer technologies. This will help in developing a group of skilled workforce.
Avoiding duplication is a major challenge in ensuring effective reconstruction. This will require strong coordination with I/NGOs. We are mindful of this challenge and are in the process of putting together a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
One way to do this is to assign each of these NGOs tasks and areas based on their expertise by signing a memorandum of understanding to undertake reconstruction for a thematic sector in a village or group of villages.
We will broadly take two approaches to revive the socio-economy and to incentivise the public to stay behind in quake-destroyed villages. First, villagers themselves will be involved in reconstruction work. This will inject cash flow into the local economy by creating employment. Second, there will emphasis on transforming the subsistence agriculture into agro-entrepreneurship such as processing and other micro enterprises. They will be encouraged to form cooperatives.
We are going to mobilise 15,000 engineers in total to all quake-affected districts within three weeks period from the detailed damage assessment. The assessment will be completed in two months. We are receiving data in real time from the field and the Central Bureau of Statics will be compiling them.
So in reality, we don’t have to wait for two months to begin the housing grant disbursement. Once a village’s assessment is complete, we can start releasing the money right away. The reconstruction process has started and all districts will be covered by April 25, the first anniversary of the earthquake.
We are committed to ensuring transparency in the reconstruction process. For this, we will put together strict SOPs. The detailed damage assessment will also ensure that there are no ghost beneficiaries.
The private sector will play an important role. They will form the supply chain so that the locals can have easy access to construction materials. We want to create a competitive environment so that the prices remain low.
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