By Amar Raj Naharki
Tanahun, Dec. 12: The Nepal Reconstruction Authority’s (NEA) Central Project Implementation Unit (Education) has allocated a budget for the reconstruction of 78 school buildings in Tanahun district in the current fiscal year.
Since the budget allocation, the reconstruction of schools, which were razed to the ground by 2015 earthquake, has restarted in full capacity.
Chief of the Tanahun Unit, Govinda Raj Pokhrel, informed that 52 buildings with four rooms, six with three rooms and 20 with two rooms would be reconstructed in the district.
The estimated cost for the four-room building is Rs 700 million school, Rs 3,580,000 for the three-room building and Rs 203.75 million for the two-room building. Similarly, 61 toilets will be constructed for each school with Rs 1.6 million for the secondary level and with Rs 1.35 million for the primary level, Pokharel said.
Similarly, Rs. 740,000 has been earmarked for 57 schools for the construction of drinking water facility. He informed that 10 schools had already started reconstructing four-room building, nine schools had started reconstructing toilets and six schools drinking water facility.
According to the Unit, Ravi Chandra Primary School, in Myagdi Rural Municipality-5 and Dharma Secondary School in Bhimad Municipality have completed the construction of toilets.
Engineer Anil Kumar Shrestha from the Unit informed that separate toilets would be reconstructed for female students and students with disabilities.
The construction of four-room building should be completed by mid-June and three-room buildings by mid-April, said Pokhrel. The reconstruction work, aiming to complete the work within 10 months, has restarted after pausing for quite a while due the COVID-19 pandemic. In Fiscal Year 075/076 BS, a budget of Rs. 100 million was earmarked for four-room building in the first phase and Rs. 209.4 million for the second phase.
According to the Unit, while 291 out of 486 schools in Tanahu were directly affected by the earthquake, the rest were indirectly affected. According to the Unit, 213 schools in the district have directly benefited from the reconstruction of the school building and other facilities. According to Pokhrel, the problems in the rural areas have been exacerbated by the fragile condition of the roads leading to the reconstruction site, the impact of the lockdown, lack of availability of construction materials and shortage of skilled workers.
Rameshwor Lamichhane, information officer of the Unit said that the priority would be determined based on the proposal for the reconstruction of the school, as well as the recommendation of the local level, the severity of damage, required classrooms, number of students, etc.