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