Aceh rebuilding still needs clear policy framework: Activists

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is being urged to design a clear policy framework for the reconstruction of tsunami-devastated Aceh, particularly one that is based on the participation of the Acehnese people.

A one-day seminar on the rebuilding of Aceh concluded on Monday that the reconstruction plan lacked a solid coordination component and could continue to be sporadic, making it less effective, despite the fact that the government has issued a draft blueprint for the reconstruction phase.

"There has been no detailed framework on how local participation should be carried out. Local people cannot simply be relocated either, unless they want to," urban development expert Marco Kusumawijaya stated during the seminar sponsored by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

A report from the non-governmental organization Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) said that aside from sporadic development, the shortages of construction materials and their high prices have hampered the reconstruction process in Aceh.

Activist Emmy Hafild, from the Civil Society Coalition, said that tsunami victims had a strong will to reestablish their Acehnese community. "Getting back to work is their priority."

Some key input came from Sandeep Virmani, from India, representing the NGO Abhiyan. Virmani shared his experiences during the seminar about the reconstruction of Gujarat state after a 7.9-magnitude earthquake devastated eight towns there and killed approximately 25,000 people in January 2001.

The rebuilding process in Gujarat won praise from many, and within six months, the reconstruction teams managed to build 24,000 houses with strong participation of local people.

"The important thing is to create a strong policy framework because it determines the next step. The government only works for governance and regulations. It provides construction materials and technical advice only. The rest is done by people, or NGOs chosen as facilitators," Virmani said.

The Gujarat rehabilitation policy, he said, offered options aimed at fast construction with seismic safety, in which the victims were free to build their own houses based on technical advice from the government on how to establish secure houses.

The policy framework gave two designs for housing participation -- the owner-driven policy and public-private partnership. The previous one enabled victims to build their own houses by paying them back in installments, while the latter allowed them to decide whether to involve NGOs or the government in building their houses.

"For the owner-driven policy, there should be an institutional mechanism to support it," Virmani said.

The mechanism included coordination with banks and NGOs, the establishment of construction material banks, mason training and a technical audit system.

"The prices of construction materials cannot go up, and there should be continuous supplies. That's the function of material banks. It also is aimed at deterring a black market. The technical advisory group, meanwhile, will prevent people from testing a lot of different materials," Virmani said.

Citing the experience in Gujarat, he said, local people were more satisfied when they were allowed to build their houses by themselves.

"The level of satisfaction from people who built their own houses was 91 percent. Some 60 percent of locals whose houses were built by NGOs, meanwhile, wished they had done it themselves," Virmani said.

He went on to add that one of the crucial things was to build links and good coordination between the community, the government and NGOs, especially because there were dozens of NGOs working in Aceh at present.

"The government shouldn't be shy to invite NGOs and name them as facilitators, as well as to identify the good ones among them. The technical audit system must also be able to identify which NGOs do not follow existing regulations," Virmani said.

He observed, however, that there was still a lack of trust between Aceh-based NGOs and Jakarta-based ones, a problem that needed to solved.