Acehnese barracks

Acehnese barracks

The letter by Peter Droege from Australia (The Jakarta Post,
Feb. 24) raises a number of good points. I have just returned
from Aceh after staying in a refugee camp at Lhoknga for a few
nights that was adequate but not easy for everyone to live in.

I looked at the barrack-type wooden homes being built
down the road and was not at all impressed -- in fact I was
horrified. Here the problem is what to do with the homeless in
the medium/long term when you have about 400,000 refugees. The
boxes (and I'll call them that) were about 13 meters by 40 meters
long and each intended to house about 100 people. What amazed me
were the prices being bantered about as to the cost of these 20
bedroom rabbit hutches.

I heard Rp 450 million for one large barrack and Rp 350
million for smaller units, and yet in the newspaper some days ago
the figure mentioned was Rp 200 million. Apparently the timber
price from Medan has doubled from Rp 1.5 million to Rp 3 million
per cubic meter, thus doubling the initial price.

My word, how convenient that must be for the many contractors
fighting over the right to build them. Rental property in Banda
Aceh has gone through the roof and therefore local people cannot
possibly afford such prices. Are we about to see the donated
money slide away to the already rich and greedy?

With regard to the barracks, many of the refugees said they
would prefer to live in tents, although some did not. The
question is, why have prices gone up so drastically in an area
that is so desperate for help? Apparently, there are just over
800 barracks to be built and so just work out what the overall
cost will be -- is that Rp 320 billion (US$350 million). One
contractor said you must also take into account what you must pay
on the road -- surely this still does not apply? I wonder what
the real price is for such wooden box-like accommodation and
whether President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono knows about this scam
-- for that is what it sounds like.

DAVID WALLIS
Medan, North Sumatra