The bill was endorsed at a parliamentary meeting on Wednesday, ending months-long wrangling among major political parties, including Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist).
Speaker Onsari Gharti announced endorsement of the bill amidst a boycott by Madhes-based political parties. The latter are unhappy that the bill was presented together with the constitution amendment biil. Some of the fringe parties staged a protest during the proceedings.
Endorsement of the bill became possible only after the three major political parties reached a political deal. The endorsement has paved the way for carrying out the tasks of reconstruction and rehabilitation, if the authorities work in earnest.
However, the new development has failed to impress many as no tasks were carried out when the previous government established a National Reconstruction Authority through ordinance five months ago.
Owing to interparty disputes, the Authority was dissolved as the previous government couldn't replace the ordinance with a regular bill passed by parliament within the given timeframe. The erstwhile major opposition UCPN (Maoist) had stood against the bill. That eventually resulted in the dissolution of the Authority.
The bill was tabled in Parliament, only after the dissolution of the Authority, on September 15 and Parliament meeting in full decided to send it to the Bills Committee for finalization.
The bill has now been endorsed four months after its tabling in Parliament and eight months after the earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 and destroyed 800,000 public and private buildings partially or completely.
After the International Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction (ICNR) held on 25 June, donor agencies pledged Rs 401 billion in grant assistance for reconstruction, rehabilitation and relief for the quake victims.
However, the money has remained unused due to lack of a centralized authority to take up the challenging task even as hundreds of thousands of quake-displaced have been living under tarpaulins, tents and other make-shift shelters.
UNICEF and several other agencies have already warned that three million children below five years of age are at serious risk in the ongoing winter as they lack a proper place to live.
A few donor countries had started warning the government that they would withdraw their pledged money if the government failed to reestablish the authority at the earliest.
After the delay in endorsement of the bill, the government had entrusted the National Planning Commission to stand in for the reconstruction authority.
The bill was delayed for months as the two largest political parties -- NC and UML - disputed over some of the provisions directly related to the selection of the chief executive officer for the authority.
NC was for giving continuity to the provision in the ordinance that was introduced when it led the government while UML and the UCPN (Maoist) were against this as retaining that provision would also give continuity to Govinda Raj Pokharel as CEO.
As Pokharel was picked by the NC the present ruling parties weren't ready to give him continuity in the post that will play a key role in handling billions of rupees for reconstruction and rehabilitation work in several parts of the country.
The bill has now been endorsed as the major parties have come under wide criticism for bickering over the key post, putting the lives of hundreds of thousands at risk during the unfolding winter.
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