Reconstruction agency casts blame for lack of progress in Aceh

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

The Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) has lashed out at the Ministry of Finance for lacking a sense of crisis in delaying without clear reason several critical enabling regulations that would allow reconstruction work to proceed.

Deputy of the agency's communication division, Sudirman Said, disclosed that the regulations were still at the ministry even though they were pivotal to speeding up the agency's work in the region devastated by a tsunami in December last year.

"There are four regulations on reconstruction that are still with the ministry for reasons that are unclear," Sudirman said in Banda Aceh on Sunday.

The four regulations, he said, had already been approved by the National Development Planning Board and the State Secretary's Office.

They are drafts of Presidential Regulations intended to amend Presidential Decree No. 80/2003 on guidelines for product/service provision, as well as for salaries for agency workers and officials, free registration processing for land affected by the tsunami, and on unit pricing to determine tariffs.

He said one of the regulations -- the one providing free registration processing for land affected by the tsunami -- has been at the ministry for three months.

"Because the regulations are still with the ministry, this has caused many problems. For instance, 101 reconstruction working units are not being paid and they've been working for six months," Sudirman said.

The agency's workers are feeling the impact of the ministry's slow response. "We're just giving down-payments," Sudirman said.

The agency, he said, had repeatedly sent letters to the finance ministry questioning the fate of the regulations, but had received no response.

"We understand that the ministry of finance's job is to control; but if the control puts a stop to (reconstruction and rehabilitation) then it's not right," Sudirman said.

He hoped the ministry would show a sense of crisis considering that the people of Aceh desperately wanted to get back on track after being devastated by the tsunami.

The agency, which was set up seven months ago and is tasked with overseeing reconstruction work and managing the billions of dollars in foreign aid, was under pressure to speed up reconstruction work in Aceh and Nias.

The agency's chairman, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, recently vowed to speed up reconstruction, particularly the building of permanent houses for people left homeless by the tsunami, which killed over 220,00 people and left around half a million people homeless.

So far, the agency had constructed around 6,300 houses, including 870 in Banda Aceh. By December, the agency hoped to have completed the construction of some 30,000 houses.