Nias Online

BRR truck-buying plan criticized
Saturday, June 17, 2006BANDA ACEH, Aceh: The Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) is back in the spotlight with a plan to purchase a four-wheel drive pickup truck as an official vehicle for agency head Kuntoro Mangkusubroto.

Activists immediately criticized the plan to purchase a Toyota Hilux, which a source estimated would cost Rp 486 million (US$51.157).

"The plan seems inefficient and a waste of money," said the head of the Aceh-based Anti Corruption Movement, Akhiruddin Mahjudin.

He said the plan showed the agency's insensitivity toward tsunami survivors, many of whom are still living in makeshift tents. "Besides, common cars can now handle roads in the western area, so the plan is difficult to accept," he said.

The agency's spokesman, Mirza Keumala, said the vehicle would make it easier for Kuntoro to travel to places where the roads are still in bad shape. — JP

Saturday, June 10, 2006

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

House of Representatives lawmakers are unhappy with the performance of the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR).

In its single year of existence the BRR had done little to build much-needed infrastructure in Aceh and Nias, House Speaker Agung Laksono said.

"We are very disappointed (with the BRR) as we had imagined that brand-new cities would rise from the debris of regions hit by the tsunami. But this has not materialized," Agung said.

Agung said that in the two hardest-hit areas in Banda Aceh, Lampase and Uleuleu, conditions were virtually the same as they were days after the tidal wave struck on Dec 26, 2004.

"There is no city planning; everything is in chaos. The results don't match the excessive amounts of foreign aid that has poured in," he said.

Earlier this week during a visit to Aceh, Agung said he was concerned about the poor quality of houses the BRR built for tsunami survivors.

Many did not even have toilets, he said.

Responding to Agung's criticism, BRR chief Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said his agency would improve the quality of more than 41,000 houses scheduled to be built later this year.

The House called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla to summon BRR executives to account for their work.

The House, meanwhile, plans to summon 11 Cabinet ministers to question them on the reconstruction's progress.

Muhaimin Iskandar, who chairs the House monitoring team for the Aceh and Nias reconstruction, said a meeting with the ministers was scheduled for next week.

He said BRR executives could not argue that the need for consultation with locals had slowed the rebuilding process down because construction decisions had already been made and the Rp 1.52 trillion fund for the projects had been disbursed.

The BRR was established on April 16, 2005, for a four-year period.

The agency's stated mission is to restore and strengthen communities in Aceh and Nias by designing and overseeing a coordinated, community-driven reconstruction and development program, implemented according to the highest professional standards.

Tsunami recovery: Taking stock after 12 months

Executive Summary

This report, from the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery, former US President Bill Clinton, documents the status of the recovery effort at 12 months. More …

By Anna Stechert

GUNUNGSITOLI, Indonesia, 10 May 2006 — Well over a year since a violent earthquake shook the island of Nias in Indonesia, killing 800 people and destroying 90 per cent of the infrastructure, UNICEF continues to offer vital protection for children. More …

Jakarta, May 9, 2006 — The Agency for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (BRR) of Aceh and Nias today holds the second high-level Coordination Forum for Aceh and Nias (CFAN2) attended by Ministers, BRR, local governments of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra, Ambassadors, stakeholder representatives and Agency Heads of NGOs and donor agencies including the World Bank, United Nations, local and international NGOs, bilateral and multilateral institutions, and civil society. More …

JAKARTA, April 26 (Xinhua) — The European Commission has signed the second commitment agreement to provide Multi Donor Fund with 117.5 million euros to finance post-earthquake and tsunami reconstruction efforts in Nias and Aceh, Indonesia. Full text …

Monday, April 24, 2006

Rendi Akhmad Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) plans to accelerate the bidding process for projects worth around Rp 7 trillion (some US$777 million) during the second quarter of this year.

The bidding, which will mostly consist of projects related to housing, schools and education programs, are part of the Rp 9.9 trillion in projects allocated for this year from the state budget, BRR chief Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said Sunday.

"During the first quarter, the agency has put into tender one-third of the allocated reconstruction funds," said Kuntoro after accompanying Vice President Jusuf Kalla in a meeting with the secretary-general of the Council of the European Union Javier Solana.

"We hope we can accelerate the (tender) process in order to maximize the reconstruction efforts. As you have know last year we only managed to spend 40 percent of the allocated funds for reconstruction," he added.

The funds exclude contributions from foreign donor countries or agencies, which will account for around 70 percent of reconstruction funds needed for this year.

The government expects that the reconstruction efforts in Aceh and Nias will help drive the country's economic activities this year at a time when the private sector is still facing the impact of last year's economic slowdown.

Indonesia's economy, Southeast Asia's largest, will depend heavily on government and consumer spending this year because higher interest rates and inflation are discouraging investment and are unlikely to recover until the third quarter of this year.

The BRR is constructing houses for the victims of the tsunami and earthquake in Aceh and Nias in December 2004 and March 2005 respectively, which killed more than 150,000 people. The construction work will need a huge amount of cement, steel, bricks and wood.

The agency is planning to build about 120,000 houses to shelter about 500,000 displaced persons. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.

Kuntoro also said that of a total $7.1 billion pledged by donor countries and agencies only around $4.6 billion had been committed thus far, with the remaining aid pledged to be followed up by the government.

The government established the agency in April 2005, assigning it to coordinate rehabilitation efforts for a four-year period in Aceh province and Nias.

The BRR has recently changed its tendering processes to improve efficiency, amid growing donor concern over uncontested contracts, with several international donors expressing concern over the special dispensation that permits direct appointment of housing contracts, rather than tendering.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

I refer to your article, Nias reconstruction work criticized, published in The Jakarta Post on Dec. 28. It is not clear where Agus Mendrova got the figure of only 30 houses that have been constructed on Nias. However, I am pleased to advise that in one of the worst-hit towns on the west coast of Nias, Sirombu, 217 permanent houses have been completed and each day we finish four more.

The Zero to One Foundation is the implementation partner for two NGOs that have funded 500 houses and other reconstruction work. We are ready to help others in their reconstruction efforts.

GEOFF THWAITES, Jakarta

Wednesday, December 28, 2005Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The Nias regency administration lashed out at the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency on Tuesday for the lack of progress in rebuilding the earthquake and tsunami-ravaged island.

The administration said only 30 out of the 8,000 new houses planned for tsunami and quake survivors on the island had been completed.

Nias' deputy regent, Agus Mendrova, said on Tuesday the agency had done little for the survivors of last year's Dec. 26 tsunami and the magnitude 8.9 earthquake in March this year, which left thousands of people dead and homeless.

He said this lack of progress was what prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to cancel a planned visit to the island to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the tsunami.

"Can you imagine, it has been a year since the tsunami struck but only 30 houses have been built. Isn't that a joke? Of course the President's staff canceled his planned visit to inspect (the houses)," Agus told The Jakarta Post.

He blamed the agency for failing to communicate and coordinate with various offices and bodies, including the regency administration, resulting in the lack of progress in the reconstruction.

"As of today, there are thousands of survivors still living in tents for displaced persons. They need houses to live in since their houses were destroyed in the tsunami and earthquake," Agus said.

According to the latest data from the Medan-based non-governmental organization Policy Study and Advocacy Institute, there are about 20,000 tsunami and earthquake survivors still living in tents and military-style barracks in Nias and South Nias regencies.

The institute's executive director, Efendi Panjaitan, said the survivors were growing restless at the lack of progress in rebuilding their homes, and there have even been reports of the survivors stealing relief aid from NGOs.

He said such actions were mainly the result of less and less food aid being delivered to the island by relief organizations.

"Reducing the amount of relief aid was not intended to neglect the survivors but to make them independent, no longer reliant on relief aid," Efendi told the Post on Tuesday.

Reports of relief aid being stolen, along with a lack of transportation on the island, has left many volunteers reluctant to go to Nias, he added.

The Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency's head for Nias, William Syahbandar, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. He has previously blamed transportation problems for the slow pace of reconstruction on Nias.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Almost a year after the tsunami, survivors on Nias in North Sumatra have accused both the central and local administrations of not moving fast enough in rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts on the island.

The view was expressed in the latest study on tsunami and earthquake survivor management conducted by the Institute for Policy Study and Advocation in Medan.

The institute's executive director, Efendi Panjaitan, said that nearly a year after the tsunami and nine months after the massive earthquake that rocked the island in March, survivors had not been informed of how long it would be before their houses were rebuilt.

He said the survivors on the island were prepared to rebuild at their own expense once the government gave them the go-ahead.

"Our field study in Nias shows that survivors face problems in rebuilding their houses due to the absence of spatial planning, making them remain in makeshift shelters," Efendi told The Jakarta Post, adding that the construction of at least 300 houses was indefinite as the government had yet to issue building permits.

The tsunami, which devastated Aceh and part of North Sumatra in December last year, and the quake which struck the island on March 28 this year, claimed the lives of 685 people in Nias regency and 165 in South Nias regency.

According to the institute's findings, 28,024 houses were destroyed by the earthquake and the tsunami in Nias, and another 17,326 houses in South Nias.

A tsunami and earthquake survivor in South Nias, Hurezame Sarumaha, said many people, particularly those from South Nias, had been forced to seek a living in other areas, such as Riau, West Sumatra and the North Sumatra capital of Medan.

Hurezame, a community leader and former Nias councillor, said the government needed to act quickly before survivors left Nias to start afresh, so they no longer had to live in temporary housing.

Most of the survivors, he said, were aware that aid from relief organizations had been sent to Nias, but had not been distributed.

"We are not only the victims of the disasters now, but have been deprived of relief aid," Hurezame said.

Head of the Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency William Sahbandar said his office understood residents' disappointment.

However, he denied that the delays were due to the bureaucracy, saying the problems were mostly technical ones.

"The efforts in the rehabilitation and reconstruction process on Nias are different from those in Aceh. On Nias, the most crucial problem faced by us is transportation. However, we should be optimistic that all things can be accomplished," said William.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

JAKARTA: The United States and Indonesia will undertake their first military-to-military operations since the U.S. government’s restrictions on defense cooperation were put in place years ago, by constructing two schools and two bridges on the disaster-ravaged island of Nias.

A group of U.S. Army Civil Affairs soldiers and Naval Construction Force sailors, known as Seabees, from the U.S. Pacific Command (Pacom) will work in partnership with a TNI Engineer Battalion to carry out development projects in the southern and western part of Nias, a U.S. Embassy media release stated on Wednesday.

The embassy also said that Pacom had allocated US$1.3 million in humanitarian assistance funding for the projects, which are expected to take approximately four months to complete. — JP

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Almost a year after two devastating natural disasters struck Nias Island in North Sumatra, some 4,000 families are still living in makeshift shelters and thousands of students are studying under tents, desperately waiting for aid from donor countries.

Most refugees have lost relatives, their houses and their jobs because of the double disasters, and are reliant on help from volunteers and activists from foreign non-governmental organizations and the Nias-Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) that have been supplying their daily needs.

Thousands of students have been attending classes in temporary camps because school buildings have yet to be rebuilt.

"It's ironic that the situation on the island is still far from normal 10 months after the earthquake. Don't compare it with the relatively better conditions in Aceh," William Sabandar, BRR representative in Gunung Sitoli, Nias, told The Jakarta Post after a BRR Nias Island stakeholder meeting here on Tuesday.

Nias was as devastated as Aceh following the Dec. 26 tsunami. But the island was further devastated when another major earthquake shook it three months later.

According to Sabandar, only 200 new houses have been built out of the 13,000 the BRR plans to construct. About 50,000 houses also need to be renovated.

"By April 2006, a total of 1,000 houses will be built and the construction of the remaining 12,000 will follow in accordance with the pledges of donor countries. We are in need of Rp 1.1 trillion (US$110 million) for the house construction and rehabilitation project," he said.

UNICEF has pledged to help finance the construction of 160 new school buildings and foreign NGOs have promised financial aid to put up 100 school buildings, while BRR has committed to constructing 60 school buildings.

A total of 770 school buildings and hundreds of churches and mosques were severely damaged during the disasters.

Subandar said that besides financial shortages, difficult access due to the devastated infrastructure had hampered BRR in supplying construction materials to the worst-hit areas.

"Some 19 projects worth Rp 431 billion to rehabilitate damaged roads, bridges, hospitals, public health centers and schools are still underway. We hope the projects can be completed within two years," he said.

Separately, BRR chief Kuntoro Mangkusubroto confirmed that the reconstruction and rehabilitation work in Nias was far slower than in Aceh because of a shortage of finance.

While there has been criticism, progress has been achieved in Aceh because 96 percent of donor countries' donations had been used in the province, but Nias had remained untouched, he said.

"After the tsunami devastated Aceh and Nias last year, donor countries and the government committed to providing only 4 percent of their total donations to Nias. No new commitment was given following the March 18 earthquake that left 40,000 people homeless and almost 1,000 school buildings, churches and mosques damaged," he said.

The government and donor countries have so far committed themselves to providing $2.1 billion of the $7.1 billion in total donations to Nias within four years.

Following the devastating quake, Kuntoro said, BRR has asked donor countries and the government to allocate between 12 percent and 17 percent of total donations for Nias because of the extensive damage and the vast amount of reconstruction needed.

Attending Tuesday's meeting were representatives of the World Bank, UN, foreign NGOs, foreign ambassadors and North Sumatra deputy governor Rudolf Pardede.

"Donor countries and BRR agree to prioritize road and bridge reconstruction projects to give easier access to the supply of construction materials to worst-hit remote areas on the island," Kuntoro said.

Besides the World Bank, UN and foreign NGOs, Germany, Sweden and China have expressed their commitment to providing financial aid to Nias.

Another meeting of stakeholders is scheduled for Jan. 17 in Gunung Sitoli.