VP, Bappenas join forces with donors
Urip Hudiono and Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has established a relief and reconstruction scheme with international donors and organizations to coordinate the relief and reconstruction effort for the tsunami disaster.
The National Disaster Management and Refugee Coordination Board (Bakornas) which has been has been responsible for the humanitarian operations in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra, has requested the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for assistance.
The board is headed by Vice President Jusuf Kalla as chairman and Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab as vice chairman.
Meanwhile, the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) will coordinate reconstruction in the two provinces with the help of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and major donor countries.
While the aid has continued to pile up in the two provinces, distribution has been a problem due to a lack of coordination on the ground between various humanitarian organizations and military aid groups. Further, the vast destruction of infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, and a shortage of transportation, has compounded the problem.
Cash, food, medicine and other aid for survivors of the Aceh disaster collected by foreign governments, corporations and individuals in Indonesia as well as across the world have passed the US$2 billion mark, according to the UN.
State Minister of National Development Planning and Bappenas chairwoman Sri Mulyani Indrawati said on Wednesday that Bappenas would be sending 10 infrastructure experts to Aceh this week to make a preliminary assessment of the damage there.
"After the assessment, we hope to come up with more detailed development plans (on rebuilding Aceh)," Mulyani said.
Bappenas data shows that at least 12 types of ready loans and grants from foreign donors -- drawn from local health and development projects and the Sumatra Regional Road project -- could be channeled for the rehabilitation effort.
The combined value of the loans and grants is about $375 billion, and were provided by countries like Japan and the United States, as well as institutions like the ADB and the International Development Association.
Bappenas will prioritize vital sectors for rehabilitation, including facilities and infrastructure, transportation, health, business and education. The agency anticipates land disputes in the process, as property ownership and other legal documents were lost and many landowners were killed or missing in the disaster.
Mulyani, finance minister Yusuf Anwar and ADB Director General for Southeast Asia Shamshad Akhtar signed a memorandum of understanding, in which the ADB agreed to provide an emergency soft loan of $126.37 million for Aceh and North Sumatra.
"The loan is part of a three-part action plan the ADB has prepared in the objective of rapid disbursement during the coming critical two to four months," Akhtar said.
She explained that the loan, reallocated from 13 ADB projects in the country, would be used to address immediate, short-term requirements in humanitarian relief efforts and repairing critical basic services.
"The highest priority now is to restore the water supply, sanitation and health care so that we can reduce the incremental loss of more lives," she said.
Akhtar explained that the ADB was also planning new loans for projects in Aceh and an additional $100 million in grants and soft loans with 1 percent interest and a repayment term of up to 40 years.