New body for Aceh rebuilding planned
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).