ADB Adopts Fast Track Approach for Tsunami Affected Areas of Indonesia
MANILA, PHILIPPINES -This week marked six months since the earthquake and tsunami disaster that caused unprecedented devastation in the Asian countries bordering the Indian Ocean - especially northwest Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Thailand.
The tsunami effort is now moving from short-term relief operations that were undertaken by governments, UN agencies and nongovernment organizations (NGO), to the medium- to long-term process of reconstruction. In every disaster, it is vital to ensure that the transition from the relief-emergency phase to the reconstruction phase is kept swift and smooth. Yet, this tsunami has been different, claiming tens of thousands of lives and devastating livelihoods. Rebuilding is immensely complex.
ADB is committing grants totaling about US$331 million. Of this, $301 million is derived from its Asian Tsunami Fund to help rebuild tsunami hit areas. The remaining comes from cofinancing and special funds, including from Japan, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Canada. These grants are designed in a flexible manner to meet emerging needs, based on expeditious procedures.
ADB has been working closely with the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias to fast-track the design and implementation of projects on the ground. To date ADB has submitted eight subprojects with support for $25 million to BRR for approval, as outlined in the Table below. In addition, ADB is also formulating support initiatives to help NGOs improve project formulation and financial management - needs that are critical given the large flow of funds channeled with NGO support. Table: Subprojects Submitted to BRR under ETESP | Subprojects | Brief Description | | Fisheries Sector Support in Pidie District, Aceh Utara District and Aceh Besar District - $11.8 million | Three subprojects to cover: -
Economic rehabilitation of about 80 villages dependent on fishing -
Repair or replacement of 600 boats, and rehabilitation of nine fish-landing sites and other facilities -
Rehabilitation of 2,250 hectares of fishponds, benefiting over 2,100 small-scale farmers -
Revival of 400 hectares of mangroves | | Aceh West Coast Irrigation Improvement (covering Aceh Besar; Aceh Selatan; Aceh Utara; Bireun; Nias; and Nias Selatan) -
$5.2 million | Rehabilitation of civil works for irrigation systems and drainage covering: -
10,500 hectares of irrigated agriculture land in Aceh Province and over 1,600 hectares in North Sumatra. -
21,000 farm families (about 125,000 people) are expected to benefit from this subproject. | | Housing Pilot Project (2 Communities near Banda Aceh) - $2 million | Support to cover: -
Over 400 new houses and 40 houses repaired on a fast-track basis in 2 devastated communities near Banda Aceh, benefiting about 1,700 people. -
Community infrastructure support, covering drainage and road laying. | | Education Project (Aceh Barat; Aceh Jaya; and Banda Aceh) - $2.8 million | Support to cover: -
Provision of teaching and learning materials to regular and madrasah schools in the affected regions, with the overall aim of restoring teaching and student-learning environments -
About 42,000 students and 3,700 teachers in 133 schools. | | Agriculture Sector Subproject (Aceh Besar and Bireun) - $3.1 million | Support to cover: -
Rehabilitation of about 3,700 hectares of farmland in 101 villages, benefiting about 5,000 farming families -
An integrated farming approach focused on tree-crops, field crops and small livestock. | Given the large scale of devastation in Indonesia and the history of conflicts in Aceh, the formulation of the Reconstruction Blue Print has taken longer than originally envisaged. While the relief phase for the 26 December 2004 tsunami officially ended on 26 March 2005, the second round of earthquakes on 28 March 2005 in the Nias Islands, has posed fresh challenges and led to immediate mobilization of relief efforts by the Government, the United Nations and the NGO community.
Immediate attention needs to be paid, and constrains unblocked, in several areas, including: - Streamlining of the mechanisms for financing flows through the Budget. While Parliament has approved the budgetary allocations for Aceh rehabilitation and reconstruction in June, smooth procedures need to be established. ADB is moving ahead with subprojects in selected sectors on a pilot basis to introduce sound and transparent procedures.
- Aceh and Nias will have their monsoon season in August-September - unless reconstruction starts soon, construction of housing and other vital infrastructure will be seriously delayed.
- Availability of raw materials, labor and skilled contractors is likely to pose major challenges as well. BRR needs to coordinate the logistics-side of support effectively.
The road to reconstruction - given the sheer scale of devastation - will be neither easy nor entail a short-term fix. Nonetheless, the disaster provides an opportunity to facilitate balanced development in the affected regions.
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