The coronavirus pandemic has a severe repercussion on the post-earthquake reconstruction across the country.

All the works and other activities except for the documentation at some local bodies have come to a complete halt as the workers and technicians have left the site before the implementation of the lockdown amidst the looming threat of COVID-19 infection.

The National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) said that the reconstruction of the private houses, public infrastructure and government building had been left as they were by mid-March 2020.

According to Chief Executive Officer of the NRA Sushil Gyawali, all the work has stopped for the last couple of weeks as the labourers and masons moved to their home seeking safety from the virus, the shortage of construction materials has prevented some families from continuing with house building on their own even during the crisis.
However, information and documentation work at the district coordination centres are going on. "Some of the engineers and NRA staff are involved in documentation and digitalisaiton of the records of the beneficiaries and the progress made," said Gyawali.

The reconstruction body is set to begin the assessment of the impact of lockdown on the reconstruction. The obstruction in the construction due to lockdown will certainly create demand for additional time and money.

"We cannot predict the impact of the pandemic on rebuilding now. With the extension of lockdown, there are chances of time and cost overrun. We may not achieve the targets as we had estimated earlier," said Gyawali.

Some of the large heritages such as Dharhara, palaces and temples at the Kathmandu Durbar Square, Bhaktapur and Nuwakot Durbar Squares are under construction. Work at all the sites has been stopped. Reconstruction of Ranipokhari, Dharhara and 9-storey palace at Kathmandu Durbar Square were witnessing good progress.
The iconic Dharhara was supposed to be completed before coming Dashain and Ranipokhari would be ready for coming Bhaitika. The Balgopaleshwor Temple in the middle of the Ranipokhari is visited by the men who do not have sisters on the day of Bhaitika.
In the last four years after the formation of the reconstruction body, about 494,044 houses damaged in the 2015 earthquake have been rebuilt while 645,678 families have been approved for the second tranche of Rs 300,000 housing grant.

About 550,532 households have received the last tranche of the grant. The NRA had signed grant agreement with 781,176 families.  

source: risingnepal, 6 april 2020