Government may OK audit agency in Aceh
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
One way of paying our respects to the more than 200,000 people who died or are still missing, and the nearly half a million others left homeless by the tsunami disaster in Aceh, is to ensure that every penny in aid is accounted for.
Toward this end, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) has decided to open an office in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh tasked with closely monitoring the use of tsunami aid, with disbursed funds, according to the government, now reaching about Rp 2.68 trillion (US$289 million).
"We expect the office to start operating next month, before the reconstruction period begins," BPK head Anwar Nasution said on Saturday, during a meeting with officials from the Office of the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, which coordinates the Aceh relief funds.
The meeting, which BPK held to receive the government's latest report on tsunami funds for Aceh, was attended by several members of the House of Representative's budget committee, as well as representatives from the World Bank, the USAID and AusAID donor agencies, and the embassies of France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Anwar explained that the office would be important in monitoring aid funds following the commencement of the reconstruction period, as well as the wrapping up of various emergency relief efforts.
"Proper accounting and auditing would be particularly crucial during the reconstruction period, as experience shows that procurement and construction projects -- which would be carried out during that time -- are prone to corruption," he said.
The audit office, Anwar said, would also make it easier for the BPK to directly monitor the funds, as it had usually conducted its auditing of tsunami funds from its office in Medan.
The government has scheduled the reconstruction period in Aceh to begin on March 26, after a month-long emergency response period. During the current transitional period, semi-permanent shelters have been built for displaced persons.
The BPK had previously urged the government to deploy its internal auditors from the State Comptroller Agency (BPKP) and ministerial inspectorate generals to audit the tsunami funds. The BPK itself has planned to cooperate with auditing agencies from donor countries in the final auditing of the funds.
Concerning the funds, Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah, who represented Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab in the meeting, explained that the government had, as of Feb. 25, received Rp 2.24 trillion in aid funds from foreign donors, and Rp 432.9 billion in aid funds from domestic donors.
The BPK has estimated that the government would have to account for a total of Rp 40 trillion in tsunami funds.
The BPK is urging the government to set up a comprehensive accounting system for the funds, to clarify which aid funds are still in the form of pledges from donors and which have actually been disbursed.
"The system should also be applied in the government's planning for the reconstruction period, which should be handled by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas)," Anwar said.
State Minister of National Development Planning Sri Mulyani Indrawati affirmed that her office would be in charge of the reconstruction period, and was still working out a blueprint for it.
"We expect to complete it by mid-March, which will include social development aspects as well as infrastructure development projects," she said, affirming as well that the reconstruction program would require funds amounting to between Rp 35 and Rp 40 trillion.