Compressed stabilized earth brick (CSEB) interlocking brick has been manufactured by rural entrepreneurs supported by Build Up Nepal. Interlocking Brick Technology consists of specially designed unburnt bricks with lock and key features that allow bricks to interlock each other in masonry and thereby reduces mortar usage. Construction with interlocking bricks is economical, quick and environment friendly. Special design of interlocking bricks allows for vertical reinforcement bars in strategic locations of buildings. The CSEB manufacturing machine costs around NPR 235,000 - 365,000 (depending on model) and the cost of one CSEB block is about NPR 45-50 (1 CSEB = 4 fired bricks in size). Besides the cost of the brick, it also significantly reduces the amount of cement and labour used in construction. | | Anupa Basnet Financial Management Specialist Kathmandu | | fEATURED TEchnical staff story: Anupa Basnet, Financial management specialist Anupa Basnet, has been serving as a Finance Management Specialist for Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Projects at CLPIU under National Reconstruction Authority since 2018. When she took charge as Finance Management Specialist, the government was often criticized for the lengthy grant distribution process, delay payment, double payment, and many more. The hard work and dedication of her team to reach out to the distressed and vulnerable community affected by the earthquake have resulted positively due to which the grant payment process is on pace and banks are uploading payment data in the NRA MIS system on time. Read more... | | | Ward No. 4, Mahankal Rural Municipality, Lalitpur: Single storey, two-roomed Stone in Mud Mortar structure plus attic. The homeowner has received all three tranches of the government housing grant. | | | Ward 2, Kamalamai Municipality, Sindhuli: Single storey, two-roomed Brick in Cement Mortar. The homeowner is enlisted in the NRA vulnerable list. Swiss Contact Reconstruction Project (SSRP) provided a top-up amount of 50,000 NPR along with the masons for the reconstruction. The homeowner has received a second tranche of the government housing grant. | | | Ward 1, Siddhalekh Rural Municipality, Dhading: SMM single story house with C.G.I roofing. The house reconstruction is completed and the homeowner has received all three tranches of the government housing grant. | | | Ward 4, Gokarneshwor Municipality, Kathmandu: One storey load bearing brick in cement mortar structure with CGI roof . The house owner has applied for the third tranche and is awaiting it. | | | Ward 4, Banepa Municipality, Kavrepalanchok BMC interlocking block. House construction has been completed. The house owner has received all the three tranches from the government housing grant. | | | Ward 6, Raksirang Rural Municipality, Makwanpur: Load bearing stone in mud mortar. The homeowner has received all three tranches of the Government housing grant. | | | Ward 3, Dordi Rural Municipality, Lamjung: Single storied stone masonry in cement mortar house is under construction, wherein D.P.C construction is complete and the DLPIU has provided a recommendation for the second tranche. The homeowner has planned to construct a two-roomed house. | | | Ward-4, Necha salayan Rural Municipality, Solukhumbu: SMM house with RCC band. The house owner received all three tranches and has also received a house completion certificate. | | | Anupa Basnet, Financial Management Specialist: Anupa Basnet has been serving as the Finance Management Specialist for the Earthquake Housing Reconstruction Project at CLPIU under the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) since 2018. She is recognized for her dedicated works towards prompt channelization of the tranche received through the government and the financial institutions. However, easy channelization of the grants was not an easy job. When she took charge as the Finance Management Specialist, the government was often criticized for the lengthy grant distribution process, delay in payments, double payment, and more. As informed by her, 74 bank branches were involved in the grant distribution. However, banks were less concerned about the NRA MIS system. Her team dealt with those hardships creatively; at first, they did a series of consultation meetings with central banks and their branches, and also conducted orientations and workshops. She shares that regular visits and follow up with banks and financial institutions has also helped in reducing gaps and errors in the DLPIU Payment Service Provider (PSP) data. She also managed the issues of the unpaid grant and double payment tactfully. For unpaid grants, an SMS system was established to reach directly to the beneficiaries who haven't even taken their first tranches. The beneficiaries received an SMS reconfirming their eligibility for the reconstruction grant and thereby encouraging them to reconstruct their houses and apply for the tranches. The initiation resulted in many beneficiaries visiting the NRA offices at the district level to access the government tranches and re-engage in the reconstruction, while some beneficiaries — who had no intention to reconstruct — returned the grant. Complaints on some beneficiaries receiving a grant from both government and partner organizations – double payment - were also reported at that time. She teamed up with three partner organizations of Kathmandu district to resolve the problem of double payment. So far, NPR 2,500,000 grant amounts were recovered. She expresses her gratitude to the support received from the "Housing Reconstruction and Recovery Platform" for validating the information on grant payment by the government and the partner organization that contributed to the identification and resolution of such cases. The hard work and dedication of her team to reach out to the distressed and vulnerable community affected by the earthquake have resulted positively due to which the grant payment process is on pace and banks are uploading payment data in the NRA MIS system on the time. She, finally, said that proper communication and coordination with primary and secondary stakeholders have helped to settle down any issues incurred while performing the job. | | Number of households switching to grant type (September 2020): This data has been collected from the DLPIU offices by the HRRP District Coordination Teams. It will be updated as more information is received. Vulnerable Households Reconstruction (September 2020): Of the total 18,505 NRA identified vulnerable households, 88% (16,333) have received the first tranche, 64% (11,873) have received second tranche and 55% (10,242) have received third tranche. In total 2,698 HHs have been supported by various partner organizations. Grievance Update: As of 28 August 2020 , 25,423 grievances have been addressed by NRA of which 17,108 HHs have been enlisted as reconstruction beneficiaries and 8,315 as retrofitting beneficiaries. | | Reconstruction Caseload Remaining (as of September 2020): Retrofitting Caseload Remaining (as of September 2020): Vulnerable Households Reconstruction Caseload Remaining (as of September 2020): Coverage of Socio Technical Assistance (as of August 2020): The recovery profiles contain various updates on the reconstruction and recovery at the Municipal level for all 282 earthquake-affected municipalities . The municipalities are updating the profiles on a monthly basis with technical support from HRRP. | These highlights the reconstruction and retrofitting progress in all 32-earthquake affected districts 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. | [CSV] , [PDF] A composite data-set for 282 municipalities (urban status, damage grade, reconstruction, retrofitting and vulnerable HHs as identified by NRA can be assessed here as CSV and PDF. The data-set is updated by the municipalities with support from HRRP. | | | HAMI: Humanitarian Accountability Monitoring Initiative (HAMI), with the support from OXFAM Nepal, published a report entitled " Why Invest more on Health and WASH" this week. This report is the assessment carried out in Kapilvastu, Surkhet and Rautahat districts on the existing situation of the availability of health and WASH services and their effect on the public, particularly women, children and persons with disability in times of COVID-19. The report provides recommendations for all three levels of governments in Nepal to take necessary steps to contain the spread and impact of the COVID-19 and build resilient communities to cope with crisis in future. | | | |
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