 Mr. Sushil Gyewali Chief Executive Officer
National Reconstruction Authority
Singhadurbar, Kathmandu | | | Key message from the NRA CEO The NRA recognizes the urgent need to speed up and improve the level of support to urban housing reconstruction. Urban issues are outcomes of financial, land ownership, municipal standards and other social factors. To add to this, the partners working in urban reconstruction are very few.
To address these issues successfully and to speed up the urban reconstruction, there is a need for collaborative effort from all stakeholders. Municipalities will need to play a pioneering role with clear vision for future urban form. Partners also need to increase their level of support in urban areas and come up with new proposals. The NRA is exploring possibilities for policy-based, financial and technical interventions as feasible within its constraints.
The NRA would like to thank you all for making efforts supporting the urban recovery and reconstruction so far. I am sure we will receive further intensive support from all stakeholders in the future. Let's work together for planning and implementation of urban housing reconstruction. | | | HRRP fourth phase approved by the NRA Executive Committee HRRP4 (August 2019 to December 2020) was approved by NRA Executive Committee meeting held on
26 September 2019. With the approval of HRRP4, HRRP will continue to provide its coordination services in close collaboration with the NRA, CLPIUs, DLPIUs, municipal authorities and other associated stakeholders. HRRP will prioritize its work based on the needs and priorities of Government of Nepal (GoN). | | | Urban Recovery and Reconstruction The Post Disaster Recovery Framework (PDRF), published by the Government of Nepal (GoN) in May 2016, is intended to "provide a systematic, structured, and prioritized framework for implementing recovery and reconstruction" for "all of government, as well as national and international partners and other recovery stakeholders, including the affected population". The PDRF defines five strategic recovery objectives, the first of which is to "restore and improve disaster resilient housing, government buildings and cultural heritage, in rural areas and cities". Under this strategic objective the PDRF outlines plans for restoring urban heritage settlements, unsafe neighbourhoods, and affected market towns, including: - Improving access to planning and building skills
- Engaging small and medium sized businesses and cooperatives to increase investment in the revival of urban areas
- Strengthening effectiveness of municipalities and other stakeholders to plan and enforce safe and resilient rebuilding and expansion of settlements
- Advocating for comprehensive risk reduction and enforcing the safeguarding of public and open spaces for evacuation
There are elements in the PDRF sector plan that have not yet taken off but that could have a big impact on the urban housing reconstruction. This includes: - Regeneration of heritage settlements (including 52 in the KTM valley) – recovery of heritage settlements needs specific support and cannot take an approach focused on individual houses. Settlement planning is required accompanied by technical support for reconstruction that protects / promotes heritage building styles.
- Community grants for local infrastructure – housing recovery is not just about the houses. Settlement planning and recovery are equally important and providing community grants for local infrastructure could contribute hugely to this. There have been some examples where community groups in old core settlements have come together to reconstruct a 'paati' (resting place).
Challenges in Urban Reconstruction The challenges in urban reconstruction was collected by HRRP District Coordination Teams (DCTs) through district and municipal level coordination meetings, technical meetings, orientations,trainings, and field visits. These also include the information collected by the HRRP National Team through a technical session as well as consultations with Partner Organisations (POs) working in urban areas. Land Issues: - Right of way
The Nepal Rural Road Standards (NRRS) specifies that right of way depends on the importance of the road and possible future development. Recommended total Right of Way (Row) and building line for different types of road are" as follows:
In any case where the existing Right of Way is more than the above defined value, the existing available width shall be adopted as a right of way. Right of Way is generally not applied in traditional or old settlements as they were built before these standards were endorsed. But if these buildings are demolished for any reason and a new structure is rebuilt in its place then RoW must be followed, resulting in smaller plot sizes. There are many areas where households are reluctant to start building, or have started building and had to stop, as a result of issues with Right of Way and road expansion.
- Small Land Plots and Vertical Sub-Division:
In many urban areas in the Kathmandu Valley the plot size is so small that it does not meet the minimum requirements of the building permit process and home owners are essentially stuck. The small plots are often due to the practice of vertical sub-division, where when the home is inherited by the younger generation it is divided vertically leading to increasingly smaller plot sizes over time. In some cases, the plot size may be small due to a portion of the land being sold off (land prices in the Kathmandu Valley are high and continue to increase). Where families do build on these small plots, many build with eccentric footings which are not compliant with the building code. In addition to having small plots, the houses that were or are on these plots are adjoining making the construction process even more challenging. This also increases risk during earthquakes as the buildings are not designed as adjoining and therefore may have a negative impact on neighboring structures.
Materials & Technology: - Demolition of Vulnerable Houses & Debris Clearance:
In many urban areas, particularly in the Kathmandu Valley, demolition of vulnerable houses and debris clearance has yet to be carried out. Damaged houses remain standing with support from props posing a potential threat to public safety. Narrow roads in these areas increase the difficulty of demolition and debris clearance. There are also cases where earthquake affected households believe that the longer they wait to reconstruct, the more likely it is that the government will rebuild their houses.
- Conservation of Vernacular Architecture:
In the historical core areas of the Kathmandu Valley, and in other areas such as Bhimeshwor Municipality in Dolakha, there is a risk that vernacular architecture may be lost during the housing reconstruction.The 2015 Gorkha Earthquake caused significant damage to traditional houses in these areas and reconstruction has been challenging as the National Building Code, existing building by-laws, and planning regulations do not adequately reflect conservation aspects of traditional buildings. A particular issue is that all of these are more focused on individual buildings instead of on settlements as a whole. The administrative restructuring in Nepal has also impacted the pace of reconstruction as the changes fail to understand and incorporate issues of traditional settlements. Decisions that were made by the former local authorities have been overturned by the newly established authorities. The NRA and the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), with support from UN Habitat, initiated formulation of an amendment to the Settlement Development, Urban Planning and Building Construction By-laws 2072 (September 2015) to better reflect the needs of heritage settlements. This amendment to the by-laws was introduced by MoUD in April 2017. The amendment covers different options that municipalities can choose for conservation of historical areas including house pooling, land pooling, and integrated settlement development. The amendment also details the process to have a settlement listed as a heritage settlement and provides guidelines for the conservation of vernacular architecture including materials and construction technologies that should be used. Another challenge is that there are not enough construction workers (carpenters, masons, etc.) available who are skilled in the techniques used in vernacular architecture.
Human Resources: Many urban areas (but not all) benefit from having had technical personnel in the municipality pre-earthquake and having to implement the building code process. Since the earthquake, the technical capacity in municipalities has been boosted by the addition of the NRA, Building DLPIU technical staff (engineers, sub-engineers, and assistant sub-engineers). However, the technical staff largely focused in the inspection process of the housing reconstruction grant and the lack of exposure and experience in building code implementation and municipal by-laws presents a challenge. Construction Process and Systems: - Building Permit Process:
In urban municipalities, it takes a long period of time to secure a building permit. It is thought that the time required to secure a building permit and the steps in the process that may be difficult for some homeowners, could be one of the reasons for the low reconstruction rate.
In many core settlement areas, the process for getting the building permit is effectively impossible because the land parcels are smaller than the minimum requirements.
In Urban municipalities there has been an increase in the number of homeowners adding illegal storeys beyond the number approved in their building permit. The additional storeys were mostly found in houses with 9"x9" and 9"x12" columns, as well as in houses that had not been constructed under the building permit system and were considered unsafe based on structural analysis. In response to this issue, some municipalities have been fining homeowners that have built such additional storeys, but the municipalities are flexible in the case of earthquake reconstruction and will work with the household to prepare revised building drawings. However, a full structural analysis is required to confirm the safety of the structure.
- Coverage of Socio-Technical Assistance:
The Government of Nepal's Strategic Recovery Objective 1, under the Post Disaster Recovery Framework (PDRF)25, is to 'restore and improve disaster resilient housing, government buildings and cultural heritage in rural areas and cities'. The PDRF further states that to achieve this, the following is required: Owners will be provided financial assistance in tranches, supported by timely provision of technical assistance, training and facilitation, so that people can rebuild as soon as possible. It is critical that there is a uniform approach to support and implementation for universal coverage in the 32 earthquake affected districts, including the 14 most affected districts, irrespective of funding sources. To date, coverage of socio-technical assistance has been low, especially in urban areas The number of Partner Organisations (POs) providing socio-technical assistance is much lower in urban areas compared to rural areas. The poor coverage of socio-technical assistance in urban areas leaves households facing a complex and challenging reconstruction with likely a very large investment required from their side, without access to the information, guidance, and support they require. HRRP have prioritized urban recovery and reconstruction as one of the major areas of focus in its fourth phase. HRRP will be working with partners working in urban areas together with the NRA to advocate to update and reform policies and to explore solutions to expedite urban reconstruction process , for further information please contact Ms. Bhubaneshowri Parajuli; techcord.national@hrrpnepal.org; National Technical Coordinator, HRRP Nepal. | | |  Bidhaya Manandhar District Support Engineer
Kathmandu | | | fEATURED tECHNICAL sTAFF pERSON This month's featured technical staff person is
Ms. Bidhaya Manandhar. She has been working as a District Support Engineer (DSE) in Kathmandu since December 2018. Prior to this, she worked as DSE in Dolakha and Kavrepalanchok. She has been a DSE since April 2016, so she brings a range of experience in post-earthquake reconstruction from three of the highly earthquake affected districts. She shared that there is a huge difference in the reconstruction scenario in these three districts she has worked due to various housing typologies, mainly in terms of structural design. | | | | 'STAKEHOLDER'S PERSPECTIVE ON URBAN CHALLENGES' | | |  Urban housing reconstruction, mostly traditional settlement areas, cannot be dealt with similar to the rural housing reconstruction as most of the houses have multi-ownership. Tranche support in three different installments cannot encourage beneficiaries to reconstruct within the deadlines, so solutions like provision of complete tranche support in one installment and easy access to loans need to be sought. - Ms. Meeru Shrestha
Ward Member, Dhulikhel-7 | | In Khokana, a heritage settlement, the reconstruction has been a "fully owner-driven process without any partner organizations involved in providing socio technical assistance. - Mr. Rabindra Maharjan
Ward Chief, LMC-21, Lalitpur | | National Reconstruction Authority is yet to address all the traditional settlements in all earthquake affected districts. Settlement-specific reconstruction policies need to be developed in coordination with the respective municipality in order to accelerate housing reconstruction and conserve traditional settlements as well. - Mr. Sanjay Koju
Ward Chief, Dhulikhel-6 | | Beneficiaries are living in a densely populated area with lack of proper urban planning. The scattered settlement at some places and high concentration at market area with little or no gap/space between two adjacent building is a big challenge. - Mr. Minmar Lama
Sub-engineer, Bhimeshwor Municipality-3, Dolakha | | It took me five laborers for twelve days to demolish my four storey brick in mud house spanning an area of 2 anna- 2 paisa. As the approach way is an alley, porters had to be used to transport the debris to the nearest road from where tractors were used. The total cost of demolition and debris management ranged to NPRs. 2,70,000. - Mr. Madan Gopal Shrestha
Beneficiary, Dhulikhel-7 | | Photo Features  Ward 7, Dhulikhel Municipality, Kavrepalanchok: a traditional brick in mud mortar house.  Ward 3, Bhimeshwor Municipality, Dolakha: three and a half storey, RCC building made using brick in cement mortar. The homeowner has received all three tranches of the Government housing reconstruction grant. | | NRA 5W tracks PO's activity in the earthquake affected districts. The following infographic provides a snapshot of scale of core socio-technical assistance provided by various POs on the earthquake recovery and reconstruction. 
Reconstruction and Retrofitting information pack highlights the reconstruction and retrofitting progress in all 32-earthquake affected district at the municipal level. This data is updated by HRRP district staff in close coordination with municipal focal persons. The links will be automatically updated to provide the reconstruction snapshot (PDF) for the month. Please access the links here. | | Sustainable Tourism and Green Growth for Heritage Settlements of Kathmandu Valley: Urban housing construction is very complex and needs special attention to address issues like municipal building permit processes, multiple beneficiaries, land ownership and inadequate financial support, which consistently hinder the urban recovery process. Bungamati, an urban settlement area is one of the heritage settlements in the Kathmandu valley that was badly affected by Nepal earthquake 2015. About 95% of the traditional buildings within the core settlement were affected. People within the settlement are still in the process of starting the reconstruction of their houses after the fourth year due to many challenges. There are partner organizations such as UN Habitat, Center for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD, Lumanti, Sabah Nepal and Bungamati Area Reconstruction and Development Council (BARDeC) working together to support housing reconstruction in Bungamati. Lack of proper awareness among beneficiaries about building bylaws and minimum requirements have questioned the resilience capacity of the reconstructed houses. It is paramount that the capacity of local technicians in traditional building construction needs to be strengthened along with strong coordination and communication mechanism for speedy recovery of urban reconstruction. Meeting the Urban Challenge by ALNAP provides an overview of current thinking and emerging good practice related to humanitarian action in an urban environment. It is based on the discussions held at the 27th Meeting of the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP) on urban challenges and on a review of recent literature on humanitarian responses to urban crises. It considers how the nature of urban space and of urban populations influences disasters in cities; it outlines how the humanitarian community is adapting to address the challenges posed by urban areas; and it proposes some 'next steps' for the humanitarian community. The Urban Reconstruction in Nepal Project is a research initiative to investigate aid governance, community-driven reconstruction initiatives and the rebuilding of historic urban settlements damaged by the 2015 earthquakes in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. This research was motivated by the lack of reconstruction progress in urban settlements one year after the earthquakes and was carried out in conjunction with the Housing Recovery and Reconstruction Platform–Nepal and the Earth Observatory of Singapore. We conducted ethnographic fieldwork in five urban settlements over a period of 18 months. Our research shows that the delay in urban reconstruction was a function of the lack of a clear and well-supported policy for urban reconstruction; limited governance capacity and neglect of municipal- and ward-level officials; financial restrictions caused by the funding cap per family to rebuild their homes; and the lack of a framework to support local community-driven rebuilding initiatives. Formation-and-Functioning-of-Provincial-Institutions-in-the-Federal-Structure is a report on the 'Formation and Functioning of Provincial Institutions in the Federal Structure. This is the fifth in the series of reports under 'Observation of post-Constitution Politics and Governance in Nepal (OPPG)' which started in January 2018. This report covers findings and analyses from all seven provinces based on DRCN's research conducted between April to July 2019. The Roles of Local Governments in Disaster Management and Earthquake Reconstruction (Aug 2019) published by Democracy Resource Center Nepal (DRCN) and supported by The Asia Foundation is a field-level scoping research on the roles of local governments in reconstruction and disaster management. The document captures the perspectives, experiences, and needs of local governments to highlight challenges and opportunities and ultimately, contribute to improved disaster preparedness and future responses at the local level. NRA Bulletin (Sharawan - Bhadra 2073):  | | | |
