Status of Sustainable Infrastructure in Nepal�Kishore K. Jha, P.Eng.

TC-14 Seminar

Infrastructure to Support the UN SDGs in the Asian Region

ACCEC, 41st ECM

September 24, 2021, Washington DC

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Er. Kishore K. Jha, P.Eng.

• Former General Secretary, Nepal Engineers’ Association
• Executive Chairperson, Nepal Integrated Research and Development Foundation
• Vice President, Regional and Urban Planners’ Society of Nepal
• Mobile:+9779851025600 (Whatsapp)
• Email: kishorekjha1984@outlook.com

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OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

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Natural Endowments & Setting

PART 1 :

Status of Sustainable Infrastructure and Nepal’s Geophysical Existence

PART 2 :

Resilient Infrastructure in Nepal – Prospective and Challenges

Nepal’s geophysical existence linked to dynamic mountain building process of Himalayas, and thus mandates RESILIENCY as an essential condition for infrastructure development

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Lessons Learnt - Build Back Better initiative (owners built private housing reconstruction) in the aftermath of 2015 April 25 Earthquake;

• How Nepal Engineers’ Association, as a non-governmental professional society, was able to mobilize 3,500 volunteer engineers for RVDA of more than 65,000 earthquake affected private buildings, and
• How NEA set the tune for adopting sustainable approach to rebuild resilient infrastructure, and
• How the Government of Nepal (Nepal Reconstruction Authority) implemented owner driven private house reconstruction campaign using local construction materials and sustainable technologies.

• Nepal – Some relevant Facts

• SDG Sub-Platform on Resilient Infrastructure

• Understanding Resiliency in Infrastructures

• Nepal’s Exposure to Climate Risk and Commitments to Risk Resilience.

NEPAL: SUSTAINABILITY VIZ-À-VIZ RESILIENCY

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Natural Endowments & Setting

NEPAL: Earthquake 2015 Damages (32/14 districts)……………

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Natural Endowments & Setting

NEPAL: Earthquake 2015 Damages and Impacts……………

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Natural Endowments & Setting

NEA’s (30^th EC) Historic Response to 2015 EQ …….

• Collaborated with all the professional associations/societies and sought Government’s consent to conduct RVDA for private buildings..
• Mobilized 3500 volunteer engineers for conducting RVDA and thereby counseling more than 65,000 earthquake affected house owners.
• Organized training for >500 engineers on detailed assessment and repair & maintenance of building.
• Organized talk programs for research scholars. Advocacy and Counseling through Print and Electronic Media on safe, secured and economic Housing and Settlement Planning.

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…………… and Build Back Better initiatives with resilience..

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…………… More Findings on Nepal 2015 Earthquake (PDNA)

• Affected 32 districts (14 severely)
• Death: >8,712 (05 June 2015, estimate)
• Number of destructed building: >500k (reconstruction required)
• Number of damaged building: >250k (repair, seismic improvement required)
• People in Need of Assistance: 2.8m (UNRCO, Nepal)
• Direct Housing economic loss: >US3.5billion
• Most people were killed by buildings,
• Most of modern buildings that suffered destruction were less than 30 years old.

• Building supply Mode: Owner Built/ NonEngineered/ informal
• Process: Informal/Incremental
• No/ little involvement of technicians that is also limited to urban areas (more a ritual!).
• Key Advisor: Local Craftsman/ Masons/ Carpenter
• Predominant Material and Skill: Locally available (traditional)

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…………… and Build Back Better initiatives for Sustainability?

CHALLENGES & ISSUES

• Inaccessibility of the area: 31 districts, many of them inaccessible
• Limited options for rural reconstruction
• Loss of infrastructure for reconstruction
• Loss of faith
• Knowledge gap
• Building construction mechanism in the area: owner built, informal >>> Not acknowledge by the formal sector
• Economic issue
• Access to information
• Lack of preparedness/ awareness
• High fatalism
• No/ little engineering capability for assessment/ strengthening of exiting buildings
• No policy environment for seismic assessment/ improvement of existing buildings.

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National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) of Nepal

Established on 25 December 2015 – under the leadership of Prime Minister – also the Chairman of Steering Committee – Tenure: 25 Dec. 2021

LOCAL INFRASTRUCTURE

MONASTRY

Key Mandates of NRA:

• Assessment of Loss & Damage, Set priority for reconstruction , Approve & implement reconstruction projects, Mobile government, non-government, private sector.
• Management of reconstruction fund in guidance of Executive Committee (Clause 15)
• Provision of National Reconstruction Advisory Council (clause 5), Directing Committee (clause 6), Executive Committee (clause 9), District Coordination Committee (clause 25) to support its operationalisation.

The General Divisions in the NRA central secretariat include; Housing, Settlement Development & Local Infrastructure, Heritage Protection, Public Buildings & Infrastructure, Policy, Monitoring, HRM and Finance.

• Government of Nepal in consultation with the World Bank/Development Partners decided to provide a grant of 300,000 (~$ 2,750) for RECONSTRUCTION and NRs. 100,000 (~$900) for RETROFITTING/ REPAIR to all the earthquake affected eligible house owners.
• As of 4 July 2021, total number of identified beneficiaries for RECONSTRUCTION is 865,521 out of them 828,901 (96%) have signed the Participation Agreement (with Local Governments) and 78% of them have received all the three trances.
• Similarly, by this date, 47,676 house owners were identified for RETROFITING, and out of them, 35,798 (75%) signed the PA and only 2% of them have received all the two tranches (of NRs. 50,000 each). Accordingly, approximately USD 1.99 billion have been paid for RECONSTRUCTION and USD 16.6 million have been paid for RETROFITING.
• NRA carried out special campaign to rebuild the houses belonging to vulnerable groups by mobilizing 900 mobile masons and 254 social mobilizers. Various partner organizations have also been mobilized in this process.
• Altogether 12,788 landless beneficiaries were facilitated with access to land and 4,732 beneficiaries were relocated from the 299 vulnerable areas.
• Out of 7,553 schools needed to be rebuilt, 83 percent of them have been rebuilt. Similarly, 90 percent of 415 government buildings, 59 percent of 1,197 health buildings and 54 percent of 920 heritage sites have already been built. And, out of 762 kilometers of road, 525 kilometers have been reconstructed.
• Some other achievements include generation of 407.5 million m-days worth of employment and production of 100,000 trained construction workers. Various earthquake-resilient technologies have been tested using locally-available construction materials like wood, stone and mud. This is expected to make important contribution towards realizing the goal of a disaster-resilient country.

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NRA: Achievement, Experience and Learning towards Disaster Resilience

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NRA: Achievement, Experience and Learning towards Disaster Resilience

Source: Souvenir; July 2021 by CLPIU-GMaLI

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Way Forward – From NRA to NDRRMA

• After the end of tenure (25 Dec. 2021) NRA shall hand over all its jurisdictions to National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), which presently is functioning with limited scope under the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of Nepal.
• Nepal has been experiencing a number of disasters, resulting in the loss of lives and huge financial losses, time and again. There has been a lot of change in perception about disaster and significant progress towards responses to reduce and mitigate disaster risk.
• As Nepal is prone to disasters time and again, NDRRMA should be provided with legal status as an autonomous body with all the necessary power to act as a stable, transparent, independent and effective mechanism with the support from all the levels of government

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PART 2 :

National “SDG Sub-Platform on Resilient Infrastructure”

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Natural Endowments & POTENTIALS

Road Density:0.55 km/sqkm (SDG Target 1.5). But Road coverage-almost 90% - within 2 hours of walking.

SRN-13,447km(52% paved),

Energy Consumption - 177 (kWh)– Low: INPS current total installed capacity is 1348.74 MW consisting of 1293.98MW of hydro capacity, 53.4 MW of thermal capacity, and 1.35 MV of solar capacity.

Hydropotential -

Railways: DPRs for East - West Railway as well as Kerung (Tibet) – Kathmand. –Pokhara-Lumbini and -Birgunj - Kathmandu Railway to be completed.

Agriculture & Food Safety

Nepal is 4th in the world in terms of vulnerability to climate change, 11th in the world in earthquake risk, and 30th in the world in flood risk (UNDP)

Nepal's greenhouse gas emission is 0.027 percent of total global emissions. (MoPE, NDC

"infrastructure sector is vulnerable to floods, mass wasting and debris flow, sedimentation, rise in groundwater levels, and rain and windstorms"

Nijgadh Int’l Airport & 1hr. Ktm-Terai Fast Track from the Capital city.

Three Tier Federal System of Governance – 7 Provinces - 293 Urban & 460 Rural Local Governments -RSLUM

National Planning Commission of Nepal (GoN) has published SDG Progress Assessment Report 2016-19, the summary of which is presented in Table 5.

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SDG in the Context of Nepal

CASE OF NEPAL

• Resilience is at the core of SDGs. Key Area of priorities amongst SDGs that concerns physical infrastructure are:
• SDG #6- Clean Water and Sanitation
• SDG #7 Affordable and Clean Energy
• SDG #9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
• SDG #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

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Moreover, SDG 1, SDG 3, SDG 8, SDG 13, SDG 16 & 17 also impact resilience.

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Mainstreaming Resilience In Infrastructure

• Nepal – Some more relevant Facts

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• SDG Sub-Platform on Resilient Infrastructure

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• Understanding Resiliency in Infrastructures

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• Nepal’s Exposure to Climate Risk and Commitments to Risk Resilience.

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Impact of COVID 19 on SDG’s

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QUESTIONS? ?

Thank you!!

1. Nepal needs to invest 8-12 % of GDP every year in infrastructure development to address infrastructure bottlenecks.
2. Power and transport together account for nearly 70% of the total infrastructure investment requirement.
3. Given that the current infrastructure investment is only around 4-6% of GDP, there is a significant gap in infrastructure financing.

FINANCING vs. SUSTAINABILITY