Aceh tsunami cost $4.5b in material losses: Bappenas

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government assessed the damage of the tsunami in Aceh and North Sumatra, the first step to determining the total costs and financing required for the rebuilding program -- a key prerequisite for a debt moratorium scheme it can propose to the Paris Club of creditor nations.

The government, with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, will now have to assess the cost of Aceh's rehabilitation and reconstruction needs, which is expected to take about three months to complete.

Such an assessment was required by the Paris Club meeting on Jan. 12.

At a media briefing at the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) meeting on Wednesday, State Minister of National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati said material damage and losses from the tsunami amounted to US$4.5 billion.

"The losses have affected many farmers and fishermen who have not been able to earn a livelihood since the disaster," she said.

"Although providing compensation for the damages and losses would surely prove to be legally difficult, the government will work hard to resolve the problem."

Concerning the total cost of Aceh's rehabilitation and reconstruction process, Mulyani said the exact figure was yet to be determined, and that it would possibly be far higher than the government's initial estimation.

"The finance ministry has estimated that it could reach up to Rp 5.3 trillion ($588 million) for just this year alone," she said.

The government previously estimated that the devastation in Aceh cost Rp 30 trillion ($3.33 billion) in total.

The rehabilitation costs will be split evenly between the state budget and contributions from donors, while ensuring that it would be transparently accounted for, said Mulyani.

Material damage and losses (in billions of US$):
Sectors Amount
Social sectors 1.741
Infrastructure 0.877
Productive sectors 1.182
Others 0.652
Total 4.452
Source: Bappenas