Agency admits slow work in Aceh, Nias

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Despite considerable progress, the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias has been facing numerous technical and administrative obstacles that make the reconstruction and rehabilitation work slow in the disaster- devastated region.

BRR representative in Jakarta Heru Prasetyo said the lengthy planning and the lack of government focus on the emergency condition in the two affected areas had been contributing factors in the slow reconstruction and rehabilitation work.

"Initially, the ministers involved in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts treated the problems in the two regions as routine work, while the two regions are absolutely in an emergency condition," he said in a press conference here on Friday.

Several donor countries and international aid agencies have criticized the reconstruction and rehabilitation work as too slow as some 500,000 survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami in Aceh are still living in camps, tents and barracks and a bigger part of school-age children are still studying in children's centers.

The head of BRR office in Aceh, Said Faisal, said that BRR and state-owned construction companies have spent a long time in preparing the housing and school projects.

"The housing projects have to obtain a permit from the authorities, while the construction of houses have to be planned in consultation with survivors. All this takes a lot of time," he said.

BRR's fund management head Amin Subekti said that "technical hurdles" in the disbursement of necessary funds has also contributed to the slow reconstruction work.

"Both donor countries and the government are committed to disbursing funds in phases. Funds are disbursed after proposed projects are approved and this mechanism takes a long time," he said.

He said that donor countries had pledged a total of US$7.1 billion for the reconstruction and rehabilitation work, but so far only $3.6 billion was effectively available.

To help cope with the technical and bureaucratic hurdles, BRR will set up a special trust fund called the Reconstruction of Aceh and Nias Trust Fund (RANTF).

"We are trying to cut short the process between sources of funds to the implementation in the field without sacrificing accountability and transparency," said Heru.

Six months after the agency was set up, more than 10,000 units of the planned 76,000 houses have already been constructed in Aceh, while the rebuilding of almost 20,000 units is now in progress.

The BRR has also built six of nine planned hospitals, six of 30 planned public health centers, 119 of the 366 planned school buildings.

The BRR is still carrying out road and seaport rehabilitation projects in Aceh Besar, Aceh Jaya and West Aceh.