The government has decided to make lump sum payments of the housing rebuilding aid to the earthquake-affected households that have completed reconstruction of their homes in compliance with the set guidelines.

A meeting of the National Reconstruction Authority executive committee, chaired NRA CEO Govind Raj Pokhrel, on Friday decided to distribute the total sum amounting to Rs300,000 to each displaced family that has rebuilt a new house following the designs approved by the technical teams. Households in the 14 most affected districts that are listed as the beneficiaries and have completed rebuilding their houses can apply for the payments, Pokharel said.

According to the NRA estimates, more than 40,000 households in the most-affected districts have completed rebuilding houses without waiting for the housing aid from the government. It was not immediately clear whether the families that have completed rebuilding on their own would be eligible for the aid being distributed in three tranches of Rs50,000, Rs150,000 and Rs100,000. “Those who have rebuilt their houses on their own following the prescribed guidelines for reconstruction will be eligible for the aid,” said Yam Lal Bhusal, the NRA spokesperson. The authority has asked the eligible households to contact the respective village development committees and municipalities for the grants.

The executive committee also decided to form a taskforce coordinated by Janardan Guragain, joint-secretary at the NRA, with representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Auditor General to ensure a smooth flow of the funds required for reconstruction. The meeting also decided to request the ministry to address the issue of concessional bank loans for rebuilding damaged houses as announced by the government.