National
Govt to build 50 ‘integrated settlements’
Seven months after the devastating April earthquake, the government has finally decided to construct houses for the displaced people.Seven months after the devastating April earthquake, the government has finally decided to construct houses for the displaced people.
A Cabinet meeting on Thursday agreed to build 50 “integrated settlements” in the districts severely affected by the earthquake. Although the size of such housing has not been decided, each unit will accommodate at least 100 families, according to a preliminary plan.
The Integrated Safe Settlement Plan-2015 outlines policies and procedures for developing safe housing for people who lost their homes in the Gorkha earthquake.
According to government spokesman and Information and Communications Minister Sherdhan Rai, earthquake survivors would have to wait no longer for the construction of their permanent house. He said the plan had been forwarded to the parliamentary Legislation Committee for further discussion.
The earthquake and its powerful aftershocks destroyed more than 600,000 houses and damaged close to 300,000 others.
The government had announced Rs200,000 rebuilding subsidy for every household that lost its home.
It had decided to provide Rs2.5 million for quake-affected people in urban areas and Rs1.5 million for rural areas as a special housing loan at 2 percent concessional interest. But none of these promises has been kept.
Winter has already kicked in but the quake-displaced people are still living in
huts made of tarpaulin and zinc sheets. Minister Rai said the latest plan to construct houses for the survivors would be finalised as soon as possible. But the government has not decided the locations for the integrated settlements nor the type of houses that would be built.
In the past, the government held discussions on the reconstruction policy based on the principle of decentralisation and had envisioned trusting local actors and the affected people themselves to “build back better”.
For badly damaged neighbourhoods which need relocation, it plans to build new residences close to the old place as far as possible, and within the same electoral constituency or the district. Such facilities should have drinking water along with roads, schools and hospitals.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet on Thursday decided to accept Rs3.44 million reconstruction assistance provided by Germany. Of the aid, Rs2.87 billion is financial grant and Rs570 million comes as technical assistance.
International donors have already pledged nearly $5 billion as reconstruction grant to Nepal. The government’s post-disaster needs
assessment report says the country needs $6.7 billion to restore all earthquake-damaged structures.