Concern about mis-use of tsunami aid funds could deny Aceh/Nias pledged US$2.5bn
September 21st 2006 00:23
- Aceh: Loading building materials in a boat -
BRR has received US$4.6 billion in world donations since the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami hit, but it could miss out on a US$2.5 billion balance of pledged funds not yet issued, depending on how the world's aid organisations react to growing evidence of funds mis-use in Indonesia.
BRR is Indonesia's Banda Aceh-based Aceh and Nias Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, through which US$7.1 billion was pledged by non-government aid organisations (NGOs) and world governments, whose funds are channelled through the World Bank and Asia Development Bank or, as for Australia and the US, through special bilateral funds via AusAID and USAID respectively.
The Australian Government pledged A$1 billion for Aceh and Nias use initially, then made the use Indonesia-wide when the AusAID allocation was combined in a total package of A$1.7billion in the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD).
Aid agencies aren't just concerned about corrupt practices such as charging for building materials never delivered. They are also worried about inflated costs for everything to which the aid funds are put, including the money paid to officials - starting with BRR's chief, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, whom Indonesia's President Yudhoyono appointed on a salary greater than his own.
There's no doubting the good use to which the total pledged world aid of US$7.1 billion could be put. As Asia Times Online's Bill Guerina just reported, the 2004 tsunami destroyed an estimated 1.3 million homes and buildings, eight seaports, four gas depots, 85% of clean-water facilities, 92% of sanitation facilities, 120 kilometers of roads, 18 bridges and 20% of electrical distribution points in Aceh and adjoining areas. The total damage bill was estimated by the government at $4.5 billion, representing 2.2% of Indonesia's gross domestic product and 97% of Aceh province's annual economic production. Beyond the enormous loss of life, the waves also destroyed about 40,000 hectares of rice fields and 70% of the fishing industry, according to the United Nations.
But the generous outpouring of foreign aid and donations to Indonesia in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami is being pilfered by corrupt government officials and their affiliated business interests. See more ..
Link to Guerina's report "After the tsunami, waves of corruption"
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