National
Donors’ help sought for rebuilding
The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has said that it would take the initiative at the national and international levels to manage the financial requirement to complete the post-earthquake reconstruction.The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) has said that it would take the initiative at the national and international levels to manage the financial requirement to complete the post-earthquake reconstruction.
“The authority will bridge the financial gap by coordinating with the Nepal government and the donor community,” NRA CEO Sushil Gyewali told the 8th meeting of the Development Assistance Coordination and Facilitation Committee (DACFC) in the Capital on Friday.
DACFC acts as a co-ordinating body between government and donors to oversee international contributions in reconstruction. Representatives from about 25 donor agencies and international development partners were present at the meeting.
Nepal requires an estimated Rs600 billion to complete the reconstruction works.
The NRA head said that the exact amount would be confirmed after the review of five-year construction plan.
He also said that the NRA would try to get the amount pledged by the donors during the 2015 international donors’ conference on reconstruction.
Various donor agencies and nations had committed to provide Rs 410 billion for Nepal’s recovery after the Gorkha Earthquake.
Of the pledged amount, Rs 67 billion was spent on rescue and relief works.
As for the remainder Rs 343 billion, Gyewali said the government has already signed agreements for Rs 262 billion.
Highlighting the progress on the overall reconstruction till date, Gyewali informed the development partners that the NRA was set to review the Post-Disaster Recovery Framework prepared after the detailed damage assessment survey in 2016, as the recovery phase reaches its mid-way.
The NRA, with the support from the donors, had published the PDRF 2016-2020 to implement the post-quake reconstruction work in a systematic and structured manner.
“As we are half-way through our tenure, this is the right time to review and (re)design our future priorities,” Gyewali said. “This would be done by learning from our experiences and practices so far.”
Gyewali also informed the donors about the recent decision of the NRA Steering Committee to hand over the responsibility of reconstruction to local governments, as well as about the Cabinet’s decision to provide Rs 300,000 loan in subsidised interest rate.
The representatives from the donor community praised the NRA’s work on private housing reconstruction while stressing the need for focusing more on the marginalised groups who have been unable to rebuild their houses. They also raised the issues concerning retrofitting of damaged houses, monitoring and evaluation of constructed houses, availability of engineers at the community level, reconstruction of houses for vulnerable groups, third-party monitoring, and the capability of the local governments to implement the recent government decision to hand them over the responsibility.
The representatives from the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Union, Japan International Cooperation Agency, the United States Agency for International Development, the UK Aid, the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and various other international organisations were present at the meeting.
Fast Facts
Out of about 800,000 household beneficiaries, more than 90% have received first tranche, 62% second tranche, 32% third tranche and 36% completed their houses.
Out of about 100,000 household beneficiaries in the Kathmandu Valley, about 93% received first tranche, 30% second tranche and 20% received third tranche
Out of about 7,500 schools, about 3,800 have been completed and 2,700 are presently under reconstruction
Out of about 1,200 health institutions, 650 have been completed and 150 are presently under reconstruction
Out of 753 historic monuments (in 14 districts), 185 have been completed and 310 are presently under reconstruction