Valley
Ministries told to speed up reconstruction efforts
The government has directed the concerned ministries to expedite the post-earthquake reconstruction works, as concerns grow over inadequate reconstruction efforts to address the woes of the earthquake victims.The government has directed the concerned ministries to expedite the post-earthquake reconstruction works, as concerns grow over inadequate reconstruction efforts to address the woes of the earthquake victims.
A meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Som Lal Subedi on Tuesday also decided to ask the Ministry of Finance to allocate adequate budget to rebuild at least 25 percent of the houses that were destroyed by the April 25 earthquake and its powerful aftershocks. According to the government estimates, 600,000 houses were destroyed in the disaster.
Chief Secretary Subedi asked the concerned ministries to initiate the implementation of the existing directives for relief distribution, grants and loans to the affected families.
The Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MoFALD) and Ministry of Urban Development were urged to initiate the establishment of the Project Implementation Unit at the central level and District Project Implementation Unit at the local level to ensure effective implementation of the project funded by donor agencies to rebuild the destroyed housing structures .
Meanwhile, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has drawn the government’s attention towards the delay in ensuring basic facilities, including housing, health and education, to hundreds of earthquake-affected victims.
It said that the conditions of the earthquake-affected families in most of the districts is deteriorating due to cold weather, energy crisis, black-marketeering and scarcity of essential goods.
“The commission strongly urges the government to form the National Reconstruction Authority at the earliest and help address the problems of vulnerable and underprivileged groups affected by the earthquake,” said Surya Bahadur Deuja, NHRC officiating secretary, in a statement.
Chandra Bhattarai, joint-secretary at MoFALD, said various efforts were being made to address the reconstruction works in the earthquake-hit districts. The government has already signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank to repair and rebuild 450 km road section destroyed by the earthquake in nine districts.
Bhattarai added the ministry, in technical and financial support of the World Bank and Jica, has also agreed to rebuild 100,000 houses destroyed by the quake.