Blueprint completed, Aceh reconstruction set to start

Blueprint completed, Aceh reconstruction set to start

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The reconstruction of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and the
surrounding tsunami-stricken areas will be able to start in
the immediate future now that the government has completed the
final draft of its blueprint for rehabilitation in the province.

The blueprint, to be enshrined in a presidential regulation,
should pave the way for donor countries to start disbursing their
pledges to money to help finance the program.

State Minister for National Development Planning Sri Mulyani
Indrawati said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had agreed to
the blueprint and tasked Vice President Jusuf Kalla to fly to
Aceh on March 26 to make the necessary preparations.

"The blueprint will act as our guidelines for redeveloping
Aceh. The government is now preparing the necessary legal
framework to make the blueprint workable," said Mulyani during a
press briefing after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

To ensure coordination during the implementation stage,
Mulyani said, the government would soon issue a presidential
regulation on the establishment of a special executive agency for
Aceh. The members of the agency are currently being selected by
the government.

The blueprint consists of 12 books -- one covering the
reconstruction master plan and the remaining 11 setting out the
details of the individual programs.

All in all, the blueprint provides a comprehensive, wide-
ranging redevelopment program, with four important sectors being
prioritized -- the community, economy, infrastructure, and
administrative institutions.

In addition, it will also provide guidelines regarding the
disbursement of the funds and accountability, with the state
budget, and donor countries and agencies being the main sources
of the funds.

"Based on the blueprint, funding assistance from foreign
donors is subject for government approval aside from a letter of
notice. The government will put a number of systems in place for
the executive process," said Mulyani.

The donors can put their money into trust funds managed by
committees of trustees consisting of representatives of the
government and the donors, who have to approve the disbursement
and use of funds.

The donors can also directly disburse funds for reconstruction
programs with the government's approval.

Mulyani said that assistance funds would need to be first
registered with the National Development Planning Agency
(Bappenas), before being collected by the Ministry of Finance and
channeled to executive agency.

Aside from the Rp 4.6 trillion (US$494 million) spent by
foreign donors during the relief program, donor countries and
agencies had pledged to disburse a total of Rp 66.2 trillion to
assist with reconstruction. Most of the pledges have yet to be
disbursed, pending the completion of the blueprint.

The costs of reconstruction, according to the blueprint, will
reach an estimated Rp 41.1 trillion over the next five years,
Mulyani said. This is lower than the Rp 45 trillion estimated
earlier.

"The estimated cost is not definite yet. It is still subject
to changes in the immediate future," she said.

To help ensure accountability, another independent agency or a
board would be established to oversee and monitor the whole
process.

"We are soon going to set up an agency or a board tasked with
overseeing the reconstruction process so that remains free of
corruption.

"Members of the agency will include state auditors as well as
independent auditors," said Mulyani.