1,742 houses built for the poor in Jhapa under safe housing program

JHAPA: Over the past seven years, a total of 1,742 houses have been constructed in Jhapa district under the Safe Housing Program.

This initiative was carried out through a joint partnership between local governments, Habitat for Humanity International Nepal, and Sahara Nepal.

The Safe Housing Program, aimed at providing housing for low-income families, operates on a tripartite partnership model.

Bhim Prasad Bhetwal, the Safe Housing Program Coordinator for Sahara Nepal, stated that a total of 2,998 houses, including 725 temporary shelters for those displaced by the 2074 BS floods, have been built in Jhapa and Morang districts.

Beneficiaries are selected based on recommendations from local ward offices, followed by monitoring from a joint team comprising representatives from Habitat, Sahara Nepal, and local authorities.

For those who own land, houses are constructed on their property.

For those without land, houses are built only after the local government secures landownership certificates for them.

The cost per house ranges from NPR 185,000 to NPR 623,000, excluding voluntary labor contributions.

Each house includes two rooms, a balcony, a kitchen, and a toilet, according to Raju Giri of Sahara Nepal.

In Jhapa district, the highest number of houses was built in Jhapa Rural Municipality, with 850 houses.

Other localities include Haldibari Rural Municipality (32 houses), Birtamod Municipality (514 houses), Arjundhara Municipality (54 houses), Gauriganj Rural Municipality (86 houses), Bhadrapur Municipality (15 houses), Bahradashi Rural Municipality (33 houses), and Kankai Municipality (158 houses).

In Morang district, 101 houses have been constructed in Belbari Municipality, 39 in Dhanpalthan Rural Municipality, and 55 in Kanepokhari Rural Municipality, with an additional 28 houses currently under construction.