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2 x 22 (heading) Govt plans monitoring teams to supervise Aceh reconstruction Govt open to NGOs and donors in team to supervise Aceh reconstruction or NGOs, donors welcome to join team to supervise Aceh reconstruction Tony Hotland The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh
The government will set up a number of supervisory bodies tasked with monitoring various reconstruction projects in tsunami-battered Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, a minister said.
Non-governmental organizations and representatives from donors would also be included in the monitoring teams.
"This is one of our answers to the many doubts and concerns about the possible abuse of the funds we receive. All donors will be free to participate in the reconstruction process as long as it's in line with the government's rehabilitation blueprint," Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare Alwi Shihab, who is also the head of the mitigation disaster team, said on Saturday.
Donors, local and international, would also be given opportunities to offer their own project plans, financing schemes, and even to carry out the projects themselves, but would have to give priority to the Acehnese as workers.
"Don't get workers from abroad or even from Jakarta. We must empower the Acehnese to show that this is all about them and their homeland. If you want to employ constructors, pick local ones. Or if they want to give the implementation fully to the Indonesian government, we'll be ready," said Alwi.
Indonesia has often been ranked as one of the most corrupt nations in the world, most recently by International Transparency. Observers and experts have urged the central government to also establish an independent body to manage the flow of funds and aid received and spent.
Non-governmental organizations will also be invited to join the supervisory bodies, which will start working once the government's blueprint for reconstruction and rehabilitation of Aceh is completed.
The blueprint, currently being drafted by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), is expected to be completed in the next four weeks, said Alwi.
To also assure transparency, Alwi added that the government would make an official announcement about the amount of financial aid already received from donors and what had been spent. The announcement will be made on a monthly basis.
Bappenas has calculated that the damage from the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster has reached a whopping US$4.5 billion, and is currently calculating the funds required to rebuild the province. The Ministry of Finance estimates it will cost Rp 5 trillion for this fiscal year alone and the cost may reach up to Rp 30 trillion.
Meanwhile, the latest official data released by the mitigation disaster team showed that 93,482 dead bodies had been retrieved and buried as of Saturday morning, while about 100,000 people are still reported missing.
These figures, however, are far below those estimated by the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Health of over 110,000 and 250,000 respectively.
"We're quite pleased with the aid distribution and relief efforts going on although there are still several isolated areas yet to be reached, especially the western coast areas," Alwi acknowledged.
He said that the government team had also built a storage in Calang, Aceh Jaya, to provide aid supplies for survivors in isolated and neighboring areas.
As of Saturday, 54 out of 241 subdistrict administrations were still not functioning in addition to 647 out of 5,958 village administrations.