Aceh reconstruction to speed up in 2006: WB

Aceh reconstruction to speed up in 2006: WB

After a slow start, the rebuilding of tsunami-devastated Aceh
province is expected to pick up in 2006, a World Bank official
and a humanitarian activist said on Thursday.

Aceh bore the brunt of the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami disaster,
with more than 168,000 people confirmed as dead or missing and
some 570,000 people left homeless. Critics have charged that
reconstruction has been too slow.

"Whilst it was a slow start, I think most people feel that
going into 2006, things are going to be better," World Bank
country representative Andrew Steer told a press briefing on the
reconstruction process.

He said two sound government decisions had contributed to the
slower speed: to take a bottom-up, community-involved approach to
rebuilding and to set up a new agency to oversee efforts.

"Those decisions did result in a slow start... But over time
we believe those decisions would result in quicker and better
implementation," Steer said, commending the moves as "the right
approach."

The formation of the cabinet-level Aceh Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction Agency (BRR), meanwhile, was crucial to putting
rebuilding efforts high on the national agenda and ensuring
proper coordination, he said, although it had put the brakes on
reconstruction during the initial phase.

"But going into this new year, my belief is that decision (to
create the BRR) will be really vindicated," he said.

Only 16,500 houses out of a targeted 120,000 have been
rebuilt. -- AFP