New body for Aceh rebuilding planned

Kurniawan Hari and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government said on Tuesday it would set up a special board tasked with undertaking the reconstruction work in disaster-hit Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra provinces.

The structure, duties and lifespan of the new board would be determined later following further discussion.

The plan was revealed during a three-hour consultative meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and House of Representatives leaders in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"We need to set up a special body, which will be called the Badan Otorita Khusus (special authority board) to work on the reconstruction of Aceh and Nias island (in North Sumatra). The agency will be accountable to the President," Susilo told journalists after the meeting.

The plan to establish the new board comes after the President last week lamented poor coordination in the relief efforts being undertaken by the National Disaster Management and Refugee Coordination Board (Bakornas PBP), which is led by his deputy, Jusuf Kalla.

Susilo also ordered Bakornas PBP to reorganize itself so as to boost its performance, saying he wanted to see improved coordination by Jan. 18.

It was not clear whether the new board will oversee the work of Bakornas PBP in relation to the relief effort in Aceh.

Legislator Paskah Suzetta, who chairs the House budget committee, said Bakornas PBP will continue to deal with the emergency in Aceh while the new board would be mainly responsible for the subsequent reconstruction efforts, as well as managing the province's tax revenues.

Responding to the President's order, Kalla said Bakornas PBP would increase the number of its personnel so as to improve its organization and coordination.

"There are not many changes. Some have been replaced. We have also deployed more staff to Banda Aceh," he said without elaborating.

Separately, the head of the command center dealing with the disaster and refugee problem in Aceh, Irfan Edison, said that it was impossible for Bakornas PBP to make major changes to its personnel while it was still engaged in urgent relief work in the province.

"The relief efforts are underway, so we can only assign certain institutions or persons to take responsibility for certain tasks, like removing bodies or distributing food," he said.

Irfan promised that Bakornas PBP would speed up the relief efforts in Aceh by increasing the number of its staff deployed there.

"We want all of them to work properly," said Irfan, who is a retired Army major general.

According to Presidential Decree No. 3/2001, Bakornas PBP is a "non-structural" agency responsible directly to the President. It is in charge of assisting victims affected by both natural and man-made disasters.

Its tasks include planning and issuing policies for disaster and refugee management, and to provide guidelines and conduct oversight in connection with disaster and refugee management, comprising prevention, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.

Chaired by the Vice President, the agency also has as ex- officio members, the chairman of the National Social Welfare Agency (BKSN), the home affairs minister, health minister, housing minister, education minister, communications minister and other relevant ministers, the military chief and the governors of affected areas.

At Tuesday's news conference, President Susilo said the government would fully account for the use of monies and supplies provided by domestic and foreign donors for relief operations and reconstruction programs in Aceh.

The World Bank has estimated that the Aceh reconstruction effort could cost up to US$5.0 billion over the next five years.

During the consultative meeting, the House asked the government to use the disaster as a catalyst for resuming peace talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).