Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Wednesday directed the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) and all concerned agencies and partners to mobilise human resources effectively to ensure the timely completion of reconstruction works. 

Addressing the NRA’s Steering Committee meeting on Wednesday, PM Dahal asked the reconstruction authority to come up with a time-frame to work through reconstruction projects, including signing of agreements and distribution of housing aid to the affected households, rebuilding heritage and cultural sites, and relocation of the vulnerable communities impacted by last year’s devastating earthquake. The meeting will continue on Thursday with elaborated discussions on NRA’s updates on reconstruction works, delay in distribution of the housing aid to the quake-affected families. The previous meeting, also convened by PM Dahal a month ago, had decided to hold a meeting a month later to discuss on strategies and plans to ensure the effectiveness of the reconstruction works. 

During the meeting on Wednesday, NRA Chief Executive Sushil Gyewali said that the reconstruction works are making progress as expected and that the authority is ready to come up with concrete plans and a time-frame to complete the assigned tasks. 

Despite Gyewali’s assurances, the post-quake reconstruction works have been running late as more than 300,000 households in the 14 most affected districts are 

yet to receive the first instalment of the private housing rebuilding aid. 

PM’s repeated pledges to complete the distribution of the first tranche of the aid money—at first, by mid-September and then extended until October 4—have not materialised so far. Besides, the reconstruction and renovation works of the important cultural and historical sites destroyed by the earthquake have also been painfully slow.