Helping expedite reconstruction in Gorkha

Free architectural drawing preparation camps and building permit studios set up in Gorkha by UNDP with funding from the Government of India are aiding quake-affected locals acquire building permits from the municipality and access reconstruction grants

May 15, 2018

Three years after the earthquake, Arjun Sunar’s life was still largely in limbo.

Of course, things were not so rosy before the disaster either. The 40-year-old Arjun had been an employee at a bread-making factory in Chitwan, and the 12,000 rupees he earned per month had long constituted the only income sustaining his five-member family. Compounding the family’s problems were a variety of health conditions: Arjun himself had lost the fingers of his right hand, while eldest son Gadesh had suffered paralysis of one side of his body and required constant care.

These already-precarious circumstances were thrown into turmoil early in 2015 when the earthquake struck, damaging the family’s home in Kusunde Padhera beyond repair. Rather than rebuilding in Kusunde itself, the Sunars decided to take a chance and move to the Sera Besi area, primarily because it would be easier for Gadesh to attend school from there.

To do so, however, Arjun had to first buy land in Sera, which he did thanks to a loan given by relatives. He then began to build on the 1,026 sq.ft plot, and after spending around Rs. 6,00,000—once again borrowed from relatives—the structure reached roof level.

But with debts mounting to Rs. 10,00,000, and having received only the first tranche of the Nepal Government’s reconstruction grant, Arjun was unsure about how to proceed. He still didn’t have a building permit from the municipality, a prerequisite for receiving the remaining installments of government assistance. And so, desperate for guidance, he had attended a session of the Free Drawing Initiative held in a school in Gorkha, organized jointly by UNDP’s Gorkha Housing Reconstruction Project—part of the socio-technical facilitation support for reconstruction funded by the Government of India—and the Palungtar Municipality, in collaboration with the Tribhuvan University Institute of Engineering (IoE).

Running for three days starting 11 May, these sessions had targeted homeowners like Arjun looking to rebuild after the earthquake, who—despite having begun construction—are lacking in knowledge about the procedures involved, as well as being unable to afford the services of architects to develop proper architectural drawings. Fifty-five students and six supervisors from IoE’s Department of Architecture were thus stationed in two schools in Palungtar to help locals prepare drawings free of cost for submission to the municipality. This is the third such collaboration between UNDP and IoE.

It was here that Arjun—shy at first but slowly gaining in confidence—told his story. “I have huge loans to pay off, but more than the money as such, I’m worried about my son’s condition,” he explained. “I just want him to be able to go to school, be happy.”

After learning of his situation, the team helped Arjun measure his house, and prepare a drawing to submit to the municipality. It is presently being reviewed, and once passed, Arjun will be able to access the second tranche of the payment.

Over the course of the three days, requests were collected from 425 households, of which on-site visits were made to 250 homes and about 175 drawings prepared and handed over to the Building Permit Studio—another UNDP-supported initiative in Palungtar—for finalization. The studio will continue to provide free services to house-owners in the days to come.

“It’s nice to know that help is available, because the reconstruction process can seem very complicated when you are doing it by yourself,” Arjun says. “Even if there’s still a long way to go before our lives can return to normal, the guidance from the team has given us a much-needed boost in that direction.”

The Government of India, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) on 8 March 2018 signed a partnership agreement to expedite the post-earthquake reconstruction process in Nepal. Under the agreement, the Government of India will provide a US$ 16.2 million grant to the two UN agencies (US$ 8.79 million to UNDP and US$ 7.41 million to UNOPS) to support safer reconstruction of 50,000 houses in Gorkha and Nuwakot. While UNDP will provide this facilitation to 26,912 houses in Gorkha, UNOPS will cover 23,088 houses in Nuwakot.