India to support for reconstruction of 50,000 houses

Kathmandu, March 8. The Government of India is supporting reconstruction of 50,000 houses in earthquake affected districts of Gorkha and Nuwakot.

An agreement to this end was signed today between the Indian government, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in order to expedite the post-earthquake reconstruction process of Nepal.

The government of India would provide 16.2 million US dollar for the same. The government of India is partnering with the UNDP and UNOPS for providing Socio-Technical Facilitation to 26,912 home owners in Gorkha and 23,088 home owners in Nuwakot districts, respectively.

Socio-technical team from UNDP and UNOPS would assist home owners to reconstruct their homes as per the Government of Nepal’s earthquake resistant norms. They would also guide them through the inspection and certification process at different stages of construction so as to enable them to have access to various tranches of housing grant.

The Partnership agreements were signed by Dr Ajay Kumar, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Kathmandu, on the behalf of the Government of India, and by Renaud Meyer, Country Director, UNDP, Nepal and Sanjay Mathur, Regional Director, UNOPS Asia Region.

The signing ceremony was attended by the CEO of National Reconstruction Authority, and senior government officers of NRA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development and Ministry of Urban Development, among others.