Aceh rebuilding still needs clear policy framework: Activists

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.