The new CEO of the National Reconstruction Authority, Sushil Gyewali, who has been in the job for nearly a month and a half, says he has clear short- and long-term plans for earthquake victims. Talking to Republica last week, Gyewali was optimistic that all survey-related works, the prerequisite to tap around US $4 billion in pledged donor funds, would be completed by the first anniversary of the April 25th, 2015 earthquake. Gyewali clarified that the government need not wait for all the survey work to be completed to start rebuilding. The damaged areas have been divided into clusters (a cluster comprises of five or six VDCs). As soon as survey in a particular cluster is completed, Gyewali said, the government can start compensating displaced families and helping them to rebuild their homes. If that is the case, why haven't earthquake victims of any cluster in the 13 most-damaged districts gotten any help until now? What is stopping the government from disbursing the first tranche of the Rs 200,000 it promised to each displaced family? What is stopping it from deploying engineers and other manpower to rebuild broken homes?We are thus not assured by Gyewali's words. We suspect that the real reason help is not reaching the needy is because rebuilding the country destroyed by last year's earthquakes is not a government priority. That the government has not been able to take major donors into confidence that their money will be well spent. That there is still considerable wrangling between the major parties to award the lucrative bits of reconstruction contracts to their cronies. The reconstruction authority could not be formed for nine months, largely because Nepali Congress and CPN-UML were (at times openly) fighting for its control. They continued to fight even as the children and elderly were starting to die in the makeshift camps that provided no protection against the rain or the biting cold. Around 600,000 people displaced by the earthquakes had hoped that things would change after the appointment of the authority's office-bearers. But a month and a half later, the reconstruction authority has been able to do precious little for them.
According to the new CEO, the government is coming up with a five-year reconstruction policy by April 25th. The hallmark of this policy, Gyewali told Republica, would be that it would not only rebuild damaged structures but build-back-better, as old shoddy buildings will be replaced by stronger, more resilient structures. Nothing wrong with this either. But on what basis do people believe him when they have failed to get even basic help? If, on the other hand, the government is actually helping earthquake victims, people are largely unaware of it, for there is a serious lack of communication. Periodic briefings on progress of both short- and long-term reconstruction and rehabilitation plans would be of immense help. The quake victims would then know what to expect, and when. The hush-hush manner in which the authority has been working suggests that the government has something to hide. Does it?
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