The government will start signing the tripartite agreement from next week for the distribution of the first tranche of the housing aid to the earthquake-affected households inside Kathmandu Valley.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) said the aid distribution would begin immediately after they verify the earthquake-affected households in the three districts—Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur. The detailed verification of quake-affected households is expected to complete this week.

‘The re-verification of the damage from earthquake inside the Valley started later than other affected districts. But once the assessment is completed this week, the distribution of the first instalment of Rs50,000 will be completed earlier than other districts,” said Bhisma Kumar Bhusal, deputy spokesperson of the NRA.

The three districts in the Valley are amongst the 14 districts hardest hit by the devastating earthquake last year. The NRA has assessed more than 90,000 of the total estimated 123,000 households damaged by the earthquake.

The government started the process of signing tripartite agreement with the “true beneficiaries” identified through the verification process in 11 of the quake-affected districts this April, almost a year after the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country. Except for three districts in the Valley, the signing of agreement for the distribution of the rebuilding aid is ongoing in 11 districts.

Of the total 533,182 households identified as true beneficiaries for the private housing rebuilding aid, the government has so far signed agreement with 439,354 households for distribution the first instalment of the housing aid. Out of that 356,627 households have received the aid as of Wednesday.

According to Bhusal, except for those without adequate documents to apply for the private housing aid, including land ownership certificate, all the verified households will receive the first instalment by this week. Three districts—Dhading, Nuwakot and Makwanpur—are facing some challenges in providing the rebuilding aid to all the listed beneficiaries, he conceded.

On his first day in office, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal had instructed the concerned ministries and agencies working on post-earthquake reconstruction to step up their workforce to ensure the distribution of the first tranche of private housing grant before mid-September. More than 300,000 households received the first instalment over the past month since the PM’s pledge.