VP, Bappenas join forces with donors

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.