Aceh restoration plan under fire

Aceh restoration plan under fire

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

A group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has condemned
the central government for its failure to involve the public in
drafting a master plan to rebuild Banda Aceh.

"The central government has not been participative. They
should have introduced the draft of the city master plan to the
public before they moved forward with the policy. They should
have allowed public scrutiny to improve public policy," said
Bambang Antariksa, an executive of the Indonesian Forum for the
Environment (Walhi).

Walhi is one among several NGOs grouped under the Peace
Without Corruption Aceh Working Group.

According to Bambang, one clear example of the government's
failure to involve the public in drafting the master plan was the
government's plan to regreen Aceh's coastal areas with mangroves.
The plan dates back to a few days after the tsunami disaster on
Dec. 26 when Minister of Forestry M.S. Kaban announced his plan
to regreen Aceh's coastline with mangrove forests.

Mangrove forests act as a natural barrier to protect the
shoreline against tsunamis that could sweep away residential
areas near the beaches. Hence, the reforestation plan is deemed
crucial to prevent devastation in case of further tsunamis.

The draft of the master plan was then drawn up by the State
Planning and Development Body (Bappenas) and the Ministry of
Forestry is vested with the authority to implement the master
plan.

According to the draft of the master plan, the ministry will
regreen beaches along the west coast of northern Sumatra island
hit by the tsunami. A fund of Rp 800 billion has been earmarked
to regreen 150,000 to 200,000 hectares of beach area with
mangroves.

The ministry is currently mapping out the area and gathering
data on the condition of mangrove plants along the beaches,
before they move forward with the reforestation project.

However, according to Bambang, the government should have
involved public, considering that the planned reforestation area
was formerly a residential area.

"The central government has to arrange compensation in advance
and public participation is a must in order to minimize potential
social disputes in the future," said Bambang.

Regarding the draft of the Banda Aceh master plan, the
Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare, Alwi Shihab, had
earlier said that the government was ready to accept any
criticism.

Separately, Malaysia will send a team to Banda Aceh next week
to help prepare a master plan to rebuild the area, Deputy Prime
Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday, as quoted by the
Associated Press.

Najib will head a team of town planners and officials from
Malaysia's public works ministry for Monday's visit to assess the
destruction caused by the tsunami.