Kathmandu Mayor Bidhya Sundar Shakya handed over a cheque for Rs 5 million to Kasthamandap Reconstruction Committee (KRC) at a programme in the Capital on Tuesday.

Speaking at the cheque handover ceremony, Mayor Shakya also pledged further support of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City to rebuild the historic temple that was destroyed in the April 2015 earthquake.

“The reconstruction work of Kasthamandap was halted due to various technical reasons in the past. I am hopeful there won’t be any delay in the project from now on because the locals have taken the initiative to restore the temple,” said Shakya. On May 13, the Minister for Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari had inaugurated the reconstruction work by performing Kshyama Puja (prayer for forgiveness).

Earlier attempts to rebuild Kasthamandap had fallen through due to several issues. Tender bids for the reconstruction project had failed to get approval twice in the past three years.In 2016, the National Reconstruction Authority, the Department of Archaeology (DoA) and the KMC had signed a deal with the community-lead Campaign to Rebuilt Kasthamandap for reconstruction of the iconic monument built in between 12th to 18th century by Malla Kings in Hanumandhoka Durbar Square. However, the project did not take off after the dispute between the KMC and the campaign.

“The KMC’s financial help has motivated us. The committee has been formed after a long homework and a group of experts have worked intensively for the reconstruction of this iconic temple,” said KRC Chairman Rajesh Shakya.

Under Shakya’s leadership, a 55-member committee has been formed that includes local members who will be collecting the fund from government, provincial government and other organisations for the reconstruction of the temple, a Unesco World Heritage Site.

A separate group of local community representatives has also been constituted to maintain financial transparency. The group will hold public hearing on the project’s expenditure every three months.

Another team of experts will also inspect the project regularly to ensure that the temple is built according to the set norms. The team includes Prem Nath Maskey, Prof Sudarshan Raj Tiwari and Yagamanpati Bajracharya.