Timber, Reconstruction
20 Sep 06: Timber construction makes UNICEF-funded Aceh and Nias schools more safe from earthquakes than before. All construction timber is from legal, renewable sources, acquired despite Aceh's severe timber demand and short supply.
See report "Difficulties with project delivery in Aceh" used in Engineers Australia magazine May 2006
See supporting research
27 Apr 06: Canterbury NZ supplier Hunter Hills sends 1500 cu m sustainable forest pine timber.
The first of two shipments teed up through NZ forests expert Ralph Douglas now working with British Red Cross.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/VBOL-6PABLB?OpenDocument
Other updates since report "Difficulties with project Delivery in Aceh"
February 2006: Four reports
Landing craft make direct shipment of hundreds of tonnes of building materials possible (890 words)
Govt loggerhead over Aceh importing timber for 78,000 new houses (555 words)
Aceh needs timber urgently to build 16,000 temporary shelters by June (322 words)
Aceh: NGOs are already importing timber (360 words)
It's been a long time coming..
AC's reports from 2005 first half year after Boxing Day 2004 tsunamis hit.
Aus donations: Five NGOs got A$329.9m - report of March 2006
Of $379.9m total donations, ordinary Aussies gave 72pc, five aid orgs got 86pc (662 words)
In Aust dollars, the aid organisations that received were Aust Red Cross $117.8m, World Vision Australia $110.3m, Care Australia $45.7m, Oxfam Australia $28.7m, Caritas Australia $23.4, and the total of all 30 ACFID member aid organisations $379.9m.
05 Nov 06: BRR plans to act on French SCNF rail group's recommendation to rebuild colonial era Medan to Banda Aceh railway
BRR, Indonesia's Bureau of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation for Aceh and Nias, has listed the restoration of a Dutch colonial railway among its planned major projects, saying trains will be commissioned for carrying the large, ongoing freight in reconstruction materials.
The ball is now in the court of the government in Jakarta, which sees the rail link as a way of strengthening ties between the formerly restive province and the rest of the Indonesian archipelago.
The 600km route of a Dutch colonial era railway between Medan and Banda Aceh dis-used since the 1970s is under examination. Built in 1876, it's very narrow 0.7m gauge could be replaced with 1.435m, for trains running 50pc faster than the 80kph original design speed. At its peak before World War II, the railway carried 9,000 people and 500 tons freight daily.
Pic: Tsunami survivor - Banda Aceh railway station converted to a university building.
Making these recommendations is French railway operator SNCF, which Indonesia's Government commissioned in 1994 to conduct a pre-feasibility study on restoring the line. Following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that devastated Aceh province, SNCF made the study free of charge.
"We deeply hope that this project becomes a reality," said SNCF International's chairperson Jean-Pierre Loubinoux.
Experts started looking at the condition of the track and its many old steel bridges along the west coast route from Banda Aceh, through Sigli, Bireuen and Lhokseumawe and onto Medan across the border south into North Sumatra province.
Among their observations for a replacement railway:
. Special measures will need to be taken in highly populated areas, where the train driver once used to simply honk a horn to warn of the train's approach.
. Technicians and engineers have been found who were involved with the trains in the 1970s.
. Converted railways stations are among numerous houses build along the route and sections of the old track are smothered with asphalt for use as narrow roads.
AFP source
Timber construction makes UNICEF-funded Aceh and Nias schools more safe from earthquakes than before
UNICEF opens standard-setting schools in Indonesia’s Aceh
BANDA ACEH, 18 September 2006 - The first of 367 permanent schools for Aceh and Nias were officially opened on Monday with support from UNICEF.
The schools, called Muhammadiyah 1 and 2, will set new standards in child-friendly design and earthquake resistance in the tsunami ravaged province of Aceh.
Each school has a teachers' room and a laboratory. It also has six classrooms, each measuring a spacious 56 square meters. The design accommodates up to 30 children in a standard classroom setting with furnishings, lighting and a small sink with clean, running water so children can wash their hands and practice hygienic behaviour at a young age.
UNICEF's head of Aceh and Nias, Edouard Beigbeder, said, "the opening of Muhammadiyah 1 and 2 is a milestone for UNICEF. We will ensure a thorough job is done and we will not compromise on safety and quality."
These two schools are part of a USD90 million dollar investment UNICEF has agreed with the Indonesian government. It will mean 367 permanent schools in total will be built in Aceh and Nias and it represents the largest school reconstruction project across the region. This year, 20 more permanent schools are under construction and 74 are under tender.
UNICEF has already built over 140 semi-permanent schools which provide an important "stop gap" until the permanent schools are up and running.
"Child friendly" schools mean having a stimulating learning environment and facilities such as clean, running water for pupils, separate toilets for boys and girls and access for the disabled, including wheelchair ramps.
Muhammadiyah 1 and 2 share a sports court, an assembly hall with a podium and a library. UNICEF also supplied chairs, desks and high quality teaching equipment.
The schools have been built by the United Nations Office for Project Services to resist severe earthquakes, setting a new safety standard in Indonesia. All construction timber is from legal, renewable sources.
About 200 children currently study in the two-story Muhammadiyah buildings in the centre of what has become a bustling capital again, Banda Aceh. This number is expected to rise.
"We're delighted," said Mrs. Zahira, the principal of Muhammadiyah 1. "The students cannot wait to use the classrooms and facilities. The library is being stocked and is almost ready to be used."
UNICEF is strongly promoting earthquake-resistant and child-friendly standards in school construction and this has become a model for others to follow in Indonesia since the 2004 tsunami and earthquake.
About UNICEF
For 60 years UNICEF has been the world's leader for children, working on the ground in 156 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
For further information, please contact:
Lely Djuhari, UNICEF Media, Tel + 62 811 802 338 or Mervyn Fletcher, Tel + 62 811 98 7296
Source: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/SODA-6TT3HY?OpenDocument
Updates to published report
15 May 06: International Federation of Red Cross/Red Crescent: IFRC fact sheet 23 - Offshore timber for the temporary shelter programme is arriving in significant quantities at Belawan port in Medan, at an average of 18 containers of timber per day. At 40m3 per container and 1.6 m3 of timber needed to clad each shelter with floors and walls, sufficient wood to complete 450 shelters is now being processed daily for delivery to operational areas. With a backlog of 7,000 completed frames (of which 1,122 have so far been clad), and a target of 20,000 shelters to be built, the programme is now entering a period of increasing activity.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LSGZ-6PUG7J?OpenDocument
9 May 06: 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. The objective of CFAN2 is to continue enhancing coordination and increasing overall efficiency in the reconstruction and rehabilitation program, where BRR is shifting towards a regional model. Throughout 2006, BRR will establish ten regional offices across Aceh and Nias to foster stronger communication and coordination among implementing agencies.
5 May 06: The British Red Cross is building most of its houses – a total of 2,000 – further down the coast in Aceh Jaya, with work beginning in June. The organisation is currently finishing the construction of a port at Calang to provide an entry point for all materials and equipment, which have to be shipped in.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/216872/b732c96d75d7c8f6e6fea389b5ad773d.htm
3 May 06: Tsunami Recovery Assessment and Monitoring System (TRIAMS), is to allow governments, agencies and affected populations to survey and monitor the rate and direction of recovery over the next four to five years.
More (Reuters link)
Elaborating on report in "Engineers Australia" May 2006
AC's report.
Imported timber to Aceh coastal sites by unloading
ships at anchor – a possible alternative unloading with landing craft
1. NGOs under-achieve in housing
stats to end-Feb 06
2. NGOs cite issues causing
under-achieving, BRR relents on criticism
3. Changes to BRR tendering, See
e-aceh site for notifications
4. Big Aceh consulting role for
Cardno ACIL
5 World Bank explains aid
operations, funding and peace-making significance
6 Millions feared stolen: Oxfam
hopes to lift suspension on Aceh house-building soon
7. RedR in the UN and NGO networking
8. Indonesian Government performance
9. Tsunami disaster statistics
10. "Tsunami wood" is used for
planks and making furniture, bricks and compost
11. First shelters built barrack
style, Buffer zones give way to land tenure needs
12.
Congestion delays Belawan container clearance
13. Excessive building material
costs cut UN construction, while Red Cross societies opt for steel framing
14. Kalimantan timber imported for
NGO’s free use on Nias Island
15. Local-use permits to log timber
for Aceh reconstruction, Possible ship loads
16 Illegal logging bodes more Aceh
devastation – imported ship loads urged
17. Aceh update: Landing craft make direct shipment of hundreds of
tonnes of building materials possible
18. Govt loggerhead over Aceh importing timber for 78,000 new houses
19. Aceh needs timber urgently to build 16,000 temporary shelters by June
20. Aceh: NGOs are already importing timber
1. NGOS under-achieve in housing stats to end-Feb 06
Indonesia Aceh/Nias Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (BRR) has called for the design of a realistic but clear logistics plan by the first week of March 2006.
Comments in BRR’s Strategy review on House-build figures to end-February criticized NGOs and agencies for poor progress.
"With only 478 houses completed to date, it is clear that acceleration in housing reconstruction is required," the reviewers commented.
No Organisations Commitment Completed On-Progress
Total 18,337 478 1,487
NGOs and agencies had grossly under-achieved:
1 ACTED 520 104 81
2 CARITAS Sibolga 100 0 0
3 BRR 8600 28 1072
4 HOLIANAA/WORLD RELIEF 249 1 0
5 HELP 875 1 20
6 BNKP 40 0 0
7 LPAM 125 0 5
8 Canadian Red Cross 2500 0 0
9 Consortium Red Cross
(Belgium, Netherlands, Spain) 2500 0 45
10 CWS 100 15 15
11 UN HABITAT 50 0 35
12 UNHCR 300 1 0
13 Medan Peduli 90 0 0
14 SAMARITAN PURSE 411 0 19
15 Delasiga/Australian RC/
Zero to One 254 224 30
16 Delasiga/UID/Zero to One 239 74 165
17 YTB 289 0 0
18 YEU 70 5 0
19 Howu-Howu 25 25 0
20 ADB 1000 0 0
2. NGOs cite issues causing under-achieving, BRR relents on criticism
NGOs provided lists of the difficulties, like:
•Timber difficulties: most agencies are waiting for timber to be provided by UNHCR
•Other materials: sand, cement, bricks, fuel
•Logistics chain: poor transport condition
•Land including access to land
•Limited local labours
•Price increases as demand for construction is high
Indonesia’s Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (BRR) was emphatic about the NGOs' issue of “Speed” vs being community driven, saying: "Many organisations develop a three-four year project on housing reconstruction/rehabilitation”. Political pressures were cited, with places like Gunung Sitoli and Teluk Dalam said to be particularly sensitive. But mostly, BRR just wanted all IDPs being out of tents before June 2006.
BRR chief Kuntoro Mangkusubroto rethought some
of his criticism about NGO aid group CARE not following through on pledges. He said
he had now received a good response from the agency. "We held a follow up
meeting... they've done a good job," Mangkusubroto said without
elaborating on 13 March 2006:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Aceh-officials-fire-at-aid-agencies/2006/03/13/1142098400479.html
BRR affirmed its new house-building in a Singapore address. Dr Kuntoro said the building of the 2006
target 78,000 homes in Aceh this year compared with Indonesia's total of 60-70,000 pa.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/195675/1/.html
According to Channel NewsAsia reporter Dominique Loh in March 2006, spending on
rebuilding Aceh and Nias had reached US$2.5 billion.
She reported the money spent came from the US$4.5 billion the international community had already committed to help Indonesia rebuild the devastated areas.
3. Changes to BRR tendering, See e-aceh site for notifications
The Aceh and Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
Agency (BRR) is changing its tendering processes to improve efficiency, amid
growing donor concern over uncontested contracts and the thousands of people
that remain homeless.
Kevin Evans, the Australian
in charge of BRR's audit and transparency wants future awards of contract to be
determined by tendering.
During the recent multi-donor conference in Jakarta, several delegates privately expressed concerns with
the special dispensation that permits direct appointment of housing contracts,
rather than tendering.
Some also registered disappointment with the delay in moving tens of thousands of survivors of the 2004 and 2005 natural disasters from tents and into homes.
Kevin Evans, the head of BRR's anticorruption unit, said the intended changes would minimize corruption and hasten regional recovery.
Source:
BRR plans to change tendering processes
Duncan Wilson, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060309.C04&irec=6
Site for seeing BRR contracts:
http://www.acknowledge.com.au/ngosupply.htm
The site is in support of a separate report on NGO Supply – see
4. Big Aceh consulting role for Cardno ACIL
In Jan 06, Cardno ACIL announced 3-6 months contracts available to Australian engineers and professionals to help its Aceh/Indonesia team fulfill it’s A$4m assignment to assist the Government of Indonesia in the procurement, quality assurance and monitoring of up to 1,000 post tsunami reconstruction contracts worth A$550m in bridges, roads, irrigation and drainage in Aceh and Nias.
Project director David Merrett said the project involves monitoring for up to 1,000 contacts, starting from scratch. A team of 100 Cardno ACIL specialists was to be deployed across nine fully-equipped offices in Aceh and Nias, to work with BRR and more than 100 Indonesian government units with the help of Indonesian technical personnel and local support staff.
Cardno ACIL’s contract is with the UNDP on funding is through the World Bank's Multi Donor Trust Fund.
Cardno ACIL also has AusAID work, providing technical expertise to the A$1 billion Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD).
5 World Bank explains aid operations, funding and peace-making significance
Aid operations in Aceh come from 124 international NGOs, 430 local NGOs, dozens of donor and United Nations agencies, various government agencies, some military, and many others are collectively working on reconstruction efforts.
In funding, fifteen donors have come together to pool their grant assistance in a US$525 million Multi-Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias, co-chaired by the European Commission (the largest donor), the World Bank and the BRR. The Asian Development Bank launched the Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project with its own US$300 million grant. And major bilateral programs of grants and soft loans have been offered by the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development, the Governments of Japan and Germany, and USAID as well as many other generous governments from around the globe. International NGOs and organizations such as the Red Cross/Red Crescent, CARE, CARDI, Catholic Relief Services, MercyCorps, Oxfam, Save the Children, and World Vision have raised record funds to support ongoing relief and recovery efforts. These funds provide hope that it is indeed possible to “build Aceh and Nias back better.”
On the peace process, The World Bank stated: The greatest hope for a lasting recovery has come from the signing of a peace accord in Helsinki between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on August 15, 2005, ending a 30-year conflict during which almost 15,000 people had died. Past accords have not held, but lessons have been learned and so far the prospects look good. Former GAM combatants are smoothly reintegrating into their original communities, arms are being handed over on schedule, Indonesian military forces in Aceh are scaling back as promised and local institutions are welcoming GAM leaders into decision-making positions.US$90 used on 700 house units, 166 bridges, 115 irrigation channels, 40kms coastal road, eight clinics and three chartered ships. At present, the World Bank is managing a number of grant funds amounting to US$370 million for Aceh and Nias, besides a multi-donor fund worth US$530 million.
http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=9644
World bank channeled US$90 million to Aceh, Nias
2 March 2006
6 Millions feared stolen: Oxfam hopes to lift suspension on Aceh house-building soon
Update 5 May 06: A full resumption of Oxfam services in Aceh was announced, after investigations into USD 22,000 (AUD 29,000) of discrepancies in amounts paid versus goods received. The majority of the amount has been recovered and disciplinary action is being taken against 22 staff in Oxfam's Meulaboh office.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/AMMF-6PGH6U?OpenDocument
Oxfam temporarily suspended building homes in two areas in the Indonesian province of Aceh after finding ``financial irregularities.''
Oxfam hasn’t detailed the findings yet but there is an extensive report entitled “Massive fraud hits tsunami aid” in The Sunday Times 16 April 16 by Michael Sheridan, Banda Aceh - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2136598,00.html
Oxfam said operations in its plan to spend US$31.4
million in Aceh this year would stay suspended until it unraveled the
systematic over-pricing and building practice cheating.
From 16 March 2006 (Bloomberg):
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=aDkdGie7J1w0&refer=uk
Oxfam Aust statement: The temporary suspension of our operations will allow us to be more accountable to the communities that we work with, and ensure improved service delivery in the future. For more information or an interview, please contact Erin Farley on 03 9289 9415 or 0407 515 559
7. RedR in the UN and NGO networking
With help from RedR, the Australian organisation of disaster relief engineers – UNHCR built more than 1,000 permanent homes in Krueng Sabee. The construction was of concrete blocks designed to stand an earthquake of 6.5 magnitude and a 1.5 metre tsunami wave. Krueng Sabee, where over half the population was swept away by the tsunami and 4,000 were displaced, was a pilot project for the rebuilding programme.
A report by Geraldine Ang in Banda Aceh said Krueng Sabee residents asked UNHCR and RedR to build four community halls in time for the holy month of Ramadan. AusAID funding helped the quick construction, also repair work on the only junior high school in the sub-district.
UNHCR’s rebuilding programs on Aceh’s west coast are reported (14 Dec 05) in:
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&page=home&id=43a050694
A New Zealand a shelter expert, Regan Potangaroa, met with some of the 4,000 survivors about where rebuilt schools, mosque and government buildings ought to be placed, also designs for the new houses.
Previously, the UN refugee agency had completed its emergency operation and withdrawn from Aceh province on March 25 ahead of the Indonesian Government intention to oversee rebuilding by itself. But on June 10, UNHCR signed an agreement with Indonesia, then sent a small team to Aceh to prepare the ground for the arrival of technical experts from RedR Australia.
Not normally involved in emergency situations, UNHCR was called in by the UN due to the enormity of the rehabilitation task. A UN Flash Appeal received US$23 million for its Indonesia work.
Another UN agency in the network is UNICEF which has contracted to the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) to construct 60 semi-permanent school buildings.
Networking in the post-emergency/rehab phase sees UN agencies continuing to network with NGOs, and certain NGOs taking a lead role to help each other in special ways. For example, Oxfam has a lead role in advocacy on behalf of most disadvantaged people. Building material prices and supply are one point in their seven-point program list. This involves dealing with government bodies such as Indonesia's Aceh-Nias Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (BRR) and the National Land Agency (BPN), with its RALAS (Rehabilitation of Aceh Land Administration) project.
Oxfam uses advocacy to act on factors that keep people in temporary settlements like:
• insecurity and uncertainty about livelihoods and availability of food;
• land availability and the establishing of legal title;
• reconstruction and safety plans - for example, the reserving of land as ‘buffer zones’;
• the lengthy process of rebuilding - consultation, design, and construction;
• materials - prices and supply;
• infrastructure - in a ’reconstruction plus’-driven effort, no permanent shelter should lack sustainable water and sanitation, though these too take time;
• problems over NGOs’ resource allocation and availability of skilled personnel. Most of these factors apply in the tsunami-hit countries.
Source: A place to stay, a place to live, Oxfam Briefing Note, December 2005
8. Indonesian Government performance
In Aceh during April 2006, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz assessed Indonesia’s progress in post-tsunami Aceh highly favourably, particularly the performance of BRR chief, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto.
Earlier last year after Indonesia declared the emergency phases ended and time for foreign military help
to go, NGOs said they found the Indonesian government to be quite inflexible. Foreign
agencies were told they could only operate in Aceh until 26 March 2005: They said this hindered initial R and R planning. But Indonesia’s establishment of the BRR at the end of March improved matters.
Oxfam commented that Indonesia’s humanitarian agencies lacked the know-how and expertise to lead a mass building exercise, a task normally carried out by governments. Some international agencies could have worked better with civil authorities, acknowledging local expertise and experience, and supporting the primacy of sovereign authorities.
On the part of civil administrations, there were gaps in their understanding of their duties to the victims of the tsunami: to provide adequate shelter first, but then to properly consult communities on their opinions and needs. Better leadership and co-ordination is still needed from civil bureaucracies, especially in Indonesia, and sharper, cleverer thinking from NGOs. Both governments and agencies need to be more open and transparent with the 1.4 million people who are still displaced.
9. Tsunami disaster statistics
The tsunami took one thousand villages and towns, 127,000 homes and 1,488 schools were destroyed. Estimates of the numbers made homeless range between 500,000 and over 600,000. Some 600,000 people, 25 per cent of the population, lost their livelihoods. In some areas, what had been heavily populated land was, after the tsunami, flat and featureless, every landmark and every structure swept away. This included 10,000 kilometres of roads. The damage to civil infrastructure, in terms of both personnel and property, was such that, in the view of many independent observers, local government was unable to operate satisfactorily until mid-2005.
Even before the tsunami struck, many millions of people in the affected areas were living in conditions of poverty unimaginable to most people in Europe, Australia, and North America. In Aceh province in Indonesia, the security of lives, possessions, and infrastructure had been threatened by several years of armed conflict. According to the government’s own statistics, in 2002 (the latest date for which figures are available) nearly half (48.5 per cent) of the population had no access to clean water, one in three (36.2 per cent) children under the age of five were undernourished, and 38 per cent of the population had no access to health facilities. And things were getting worse: the poverty rate doubled from 14.7 per cent in 1999 to 29.8 per cent in 2002.
Six months after the tsunami, the monsoons hit Indonesia and South Asia. International and local NGOs became involved in work to strengthen and repair the temporary shelters. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Oxfam, the Red Cross/Red Crescent agencies, and others distributed tens of thousands of repair kits, as well as improving drainage and water and sanitation facilities. In Aceh, the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) announced in September 2005 that it was erecting 27,000 family-size tents and 20,000 prefabricated structures, in part to house the estimated 67,000 people living in inadequate tents that were nine months old.
10. "Tsunami wood" is used for planks and making furniture, bricks and compost
NGOs had limited locally-recycled wood available to them from what's called "tsunami wood". In Banda Aceh, a 12,500 cu m stock of the re-useable wood had resulted to date, from processing the thousands of tonnes of wood debris salvaged weekly.
Some of the recycled wood is set aside for the furniture-making industry, otherwise most of the best bits become planks.
The construction industry also gets bricks made from the recycled material, including ones made of pulped wood.
The demolition, clearance, salvage and re-use industry provide useful employment for re-vitalising the local economy with income.
Wood, which makes the major recycling activity, involve a team of 130 sorters going through the "tsunami wood" after it's delivered to their site. They achieve about 60 percent re-use with the rest pulped for making compost.
Some 1,500 to 1,600 cubic meters of debris a day is sorted to wood, rubble, earth and metal piles as input for conversion where possible into reusable material. Banda Aceh had an estimated 500,000-600,000 cu m of debris caused by the pulverising tsunami waves.
More (17 Feb
06):
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:20825465~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html
11. First shelters built barrack style, Buffer zones give way to land tenure needs
Thousands of shelters were built barrack-style, usually without consultation with communities and sometimes on inappropriate sites. Having initially built some of these shelters ourselves, Oxfam found that the people living in them did not think they were dignified, even though they met the size standards specified in Sphere. The answer to the problem was advocacy: NGOs came together and helped advise the government on a change in design. Throughout the three countries Oxfam, its partners, and other NGOs began helping communities to improve their shelters, and began advising governments on the best ways to do this. This involved putting in concrete flooring, improving drainage, and dealing with other problems presented by low-lying, easily flooded land.
Debate over a possible two kilometre buffer zone went on until late March 2005, when the Government’s Master Plan on Rehabilitation and Reconstruction was finally announced. The plan now offers a number of spatial planning guidelines, such as greenbelts, escape routes, and restricted development zones, which will be elaborated on in the district-level plans. These plans allow for the return of fishing communities and the required infrastructure, as well as agricultural cultivation in the coastal area. However, the slow development of the plan delayed the beginning of construction to mid-2005.
An added problem in Aceh is the fact that a large amount of land is now submerged or uninhabitable. Authorities believe that 80,000 hectares are lost, with estimates of the number of land parcels (plots of land supporting one family) affected ranging between 15,000 and 50,000. At least 120,000 people need new land to be found for their homes and lives.
12. Congestion delays Belawan container clearance
“Red tape holds up aid to tsunami victims”, a SA Advertiser report 12 Jan 06:
Extract: MORE than 70 shipping containers, packed with mosquito nets, school supplies and timber for tsunami survivors, had been stuck at an Indonesian port (Belawan) for months because of inadequate documentation, an official said yesterday.
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17795720%255E912,00.html
“Getting seamless container supply put before Aceh peoples’ needs”, AC’s report published mid-2005 in a Jakarta-based volunteer journalists’ rehab/reconstruction needs knowledge base no longer on the internet:
Aceh's slow pace of reconstruction continues to be blamed on ports that can't yet take containers. ''That's holding up the bringing of a lot of equipment and supplies that might be required for certainly major infrastructure,'' Tsunami Working Group for World Vision Australia manager, Paul Nichols, told Australia's ABC last Tuesday.
The interviewer didn’t ask him the obvious question: Why aren't suppliers talking to agents for ships that can unload cargo the conventional ship way from before containerisation?
Waiting for Aceh's ports to get straddle carriers and hard stand areas needed for shipping containers seems like putting the desire for seamless containerised supply ahead of the immediate needs of destitute people.
Nichols told the ABC virtually that no work had begun on basic services in the major infrastructure area of roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, health centres and cited some other usual reasons for delay - waiting for the economic master plan to be released in English, land access and ownership issues and people's resistance to being relocated.
He didn’t specify a reason given last week by others - the delay in forming Aceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction now headed by Kuntoro Mangkusubroto.
Also last week, two senior Indonesian ministers investigated on site the problem of clearing a backlog of hundreds of containers of tsunami relief supplies sitting idle at Medan’s port (Belawan). About 1,500 20 footer containers, almost a third of all the aid consigned through the Medan sea-road interchange, still remained stuck at the port, transshipped there since January from S E Asia’s hub container ports.
Beverages maker Diageo’s Australian business was particularly disappointed about its generous, speedily despatched eight container loads of bottled drinking water still not moved.
The biggest problem appears to be in import clearance, with container consignees are not picking up their goods after they have been cleared, UN’s Joint Logistics Centre (UNJLC) reported it its bulletin last week “Currently there are 1,458 containers at the port, of which 853 has been cleared but not yet retrieved by consignees.” UNJLC suggested cargo consignees should hire customs clearing and forwarding agents for all the remaining containers.
The UNJLC bulletin also detailed procedures for clearing goods Customs classified as Restricted (new and used vehicles) and Exception (garbage trucks, ambulances and cargo trucks).
Belawan received
4,351 shipping containers since the emergency started, clearing 86 percent of
them (3,746) - as Indonesia-Relief reported last week.
© alan
13. Excessive building material costs cut UN construction, while Red Cross societies opt for steel framing
UN-Habitat's Sheikh Khalifa City Project for Merduati and Peulanggahan villages reported 15 Feb 06 that higher building materials costs meant only 740 units housing 13 families each are likely to be built from a budget orginally allowing for 1,033 units. Suburbs of Banda Aceh, these villages had their population more than halved, from 8,701 before the killer tsunami waves to just 3,039 afterwards.
UN-Habitat said it had to increase the deposit it puts in the bank account for each cluster by 20 percent, from Rp 35m (US$700) previously to Rp 42m.
United Arab Emirates donations of US$5.07 million are funding the project through UAE Red Crescent Society (RCS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with the UN-Habitat contract signed in Abu Dhabi last October.
UN-Habitat is to carry out the construction on a community driven approach where those to be housed get to choose from several types of houses on offer of differing construction systems and building materials. Each unit involves a cluster of seven to 13 families.
More (15 Feb 06):
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6M489N?OpenDocument
IFRF Fact Sheet No 20, 17 Jan 06, showed Red Cross/Red Crescent opting to ease timber dependency by bringing steel-framed housing kits from North America.
It said that in the transitional shelter project, 788 galvanized steel frames have been constructed to date in 23 villages, with 282 transitional houses completed with wooden walls and flooring. Timber shipments arriving in the next few weeks will provide for the construction of a further 6,300 shelter units as project implementation increases with the continuing arrival of wood.
Australian Red Cross, in partnership with Zero to One Foundation, had completed a total of 254 permanent houses in the Sirombo sub-district in the Midwestern coastal area of Nias.
“The logistical constraints of completing construction projects on Nias are enormous,” the report said. “Everything – the cement, the bricks, and the timber and the steel need to be brought from Aceh by ship, making the process frustratingly laborious.”
14. Kalimantan timber imported for NGO’s free use on NiasIsland
Some 13 aid agencies got free timber supply in the local (Indonesian) sourcing organized by the UN agency.
The 20,000 cu m was expected to be enough timber to build 3,500-4,000 houses, said UNHCR's top official in Medan, Gregory Garras. He said a five-person inspection team was visiting remote sawmills in Kalimantan "to ensure that we get what we're paying for,."
The December boatloads of Kalimantan timber into Nias were the first in contracts worth US$ 4 million representing 10 percent of the funds donated to UNHCR for its tsunami relief and recovery work in Aceh province and on Nias. The agency had received a total of US$ 39 million for its tsunami relief operation in Indonesia.
Caritas has 300 house contracts and 400 completed and initiatives for trade association finance, brickmaking, etc. Over all Caritas member organisations in Aceh, the commitment is for 20,000 houses. As at end-Nov 05, 3,000 contracts were in progress and 400 had been completed.
UN-HABITAT, the UN Human Settlements Programme, reported a December start to building 36-square-metre (118 square feet) houses.
(Sourced from their websites Feb 06.)
15. Local-use permits to log timber for Aceh reconstruction, Possible ship loads
Five logging companies granted permits are Raja Garuda Mas, Aceh Inti Timber, Najamussalam and Kruing Sakti, on condition the wood isn't taken out of Aceh. The HPH permits also restrict the fellings to Indonesian building use, making it an offence to export them.
Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban confirmed five of eight applicants had been granted HPH permits on Monday (20 March) after signing an agreement on the timber supply with the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR).
There were eight applicant loggers - the three not granted HRHs are PT Lamuri Timber, PT Alas Aceh.Perkasa and PT Trijasa Mas Karya Inti.
From
http://www.laksamana.net/read.php?gid=239
More Chainsaws For Aceh
and (Mar 20) http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=10331
Five forest concession holders permitted to resume
activities in Aceh
Earlier Sep 2005 moves....
http://www.indonesia-relief.org/mod.php?mod=publisher&op=viewarticle&cid=34&artid=1652
Aceh Forests Open for
Exploitation
Friday, 16-September-2005
Banda Aceh, Serambi Indonesia - Indonesian Ministry of Forestry MS Kaban has decided to restore forest concession (HPH) to 11 companies in Aceh to enable them supplies timbers needed for Aceh reconstruction. The decision made after Kaban discuss the timber issues with Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) and Indonesian Forestry Company Association (APHI).
Head of Aceh Forestry Office, Mustafa Hasyibullah, revealed the ministry decision to Serambi Indonesian on Thursday. But he said the ministry decision didn’t infringe with Aceh government intention to make Aceh as a green province.
The ministry decision have to be made as so far timber supplier from other provinces, such as Riau and Kalimanta, hesitated to sent their timber due to higher cost. ‘’They are committed to supply timbers to Aceh but the cost of transportation is considered to high,’’ said Mustafa.
The ministry also agreed to increase timber quota for Aceh to 400,000 cubic meters for 2006. BRR estimated that in 2006 Aceh will need 850 cubic meters of timber.
The 11 companies that have forest concession have been invited to Jakarta to process their permit. But so far only one company has completed all the necessary requirements. The company is Koperasi Pondok Pesantren Najmussalam, a cooperative owned by an Islamic boarding school in Bireun district.
In 2000, Najmussalam used to have right to log 30,000 hectares of forest. Due to increasing conflict in the areas, the cooperative couldn’t execute its right. In August 2004 the cooperative extend its concession, but also couldn’t execute its right due to tsunami.
In its new proposal, Najmusallam asked for concession to log 11,000 hectares of forest in the coming years. But the ministry only agreed to provide 500 hectares to be logged each year. And the ministry so far only provides right to log the forest, while right to process the log into timbers has been agreed yet.
Another companies who already invited by the ministry are PT Lamuri timber, PT Alas Aceh Perkasa, PT Trijasa Mas Karya Inti, PT Aceh Inti Timber, PT Krueng SAkti, PT Wira Lanoa, PT Raja Garuda Mas, PT Gruti, and PT Hargas.
16 Illegal logging bodes more Aceh devastation – imported ship loads urged
WWF-funded Greenomics Indonesia estimates that as much as 8 million cubic metres of logs will be needed to rebuild houses, schools, offices, fishing boats, hospitals and bridges in Aceh over the next five years. This is equivalent to nearly 270,000 ha of forest - an area more than four times the size of Singapore.
http://www.wwf.org.uk/news/n_0000001463.asp
16 Feb 06
Aceh's environment lost some 350,000 hectares of forests, mostly from illegal logging. About 60 percent of the cut forest was in designated conservation zones. Aceh's south and west coasts and central Aceh were identified as the worst-hit areas. The BRR (Aceh-Nias Bureau of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation) has projected it needs four to eight million cubic meters of wood to build more 150,000 new houses until 2008. So the quota (0.5m cu m) won't help much because in the first three years it could only provide about 1.6 million cu m. Forests account for 62 percent of Aceh's 5m hectares.
26 Jan 06
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060125.C03&irec=2
Environment Forum in Aceh estimates timber need at 200,000 cu m and wants reconstruction to have the estimated 71,000 cu m of Indonesia's confiscated timber
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Aceh deplored the recent decision of the Forestry Ministry to grant forest utilization licenses to five companies in the province..
For the post-tsunami reconstruction work, Aceh
reportedly needs 200,000 cubic meters of timber.
"Demand for timber in Aceh should not pose a risk
(to the forest). The demand for timber could actually be met without destroying
the forest," said Walhi's executive director in Aceh, Cut Hindon.
Walhi said that based on the Forestry Ministry data, there were some 71,000 cubic meters of confiscated timber. The figure excluded timber confiscated in the province.
In Aceh alone, Walhi recorded more than 33,000 cubic meters of timber that was confiscated by the police during the 2005 illegal logging crackdown across Aceh.
She said if all the confiscated timber was used for
reconstruction projects, it would means there would only be a shortage of
50,000 cubic meters. "The shortage can be taken from timber received from
grants or donated for Aceh," Cut said.
Walhi tells govt to use
confiscated timber
Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
24 March 2006
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060323.D01&irec=0
It's been a long time coming
British Red Cross concluded that Krueng Geukuh Port in Aceh was not appropriate as ExxonMobil intended to retain the berths for designated company operations.
More: Belawan’s Conventional Coastal Shipments Can Complement Containers Roaded into Aceh
Wednesday, 22-June-2005, 20:41:04
Logs landed ashore for local sawmilling offer much-needed extra timber for Aceh and Nias rebuilding and also work-for-cash opportunities for the local people, giving them the means to buy building materials for themselves sooner.
More: Cash for Acehnese Workers If Logs Imported
Monday, 16-May-2005, 12:16:13
Up to 10 shipping containers of timbers donation already committed by several foreign timber associations is 'a drop in the ocean' compared with WWF's Preliminary Assessment of Timber Requirements for Aceh's reconstruction.
More: Containerised Timber Imports 'A Drop In The Ocean'
Saturday, 07-May-2005, 05:34:52
How is the supply chain likely to be performed, when Aceh has neither the highways nor a coastal feeder system to dovetail with world containerised supply chains?
More: Coastal Rethink Needed to Bring All Aceh’s Needed Materials
Thursday, 05-May-2005, 06:54:38
A nation based on agriculture and forest sector exports all over the world, New Zealand has engineered a variety of equipment for forestry purposes – including petrol-powered portable sawmills that could be an opportunity for NGOs to microfinance to Acehnese tradesmen, making a new business.
More (16 May 05): Petrol-Powered Portable Sawmills a Possibility for Micro-financing
Squared logs, rough sawn lumber and dimensional timber can be taken ashore from ships at anchor by landing craft like the LCT Daily Express. LCTs are capable of carrying all of these according to the owner-operator, who wants to see which NGOs might consider the landing craft in use with chartered vessels bringing materials for the thousands of houses to be built in 2006.
(With photos of landing craft - cargo operations.)
More (Feb 06) including photos:
Aceh update: Landing craft make direct shipment of hundreds of tonnes of building materials possible
British Red Cross, Oxfam, and Premiere Urgence are importing sustainably-logged timber from Australia and NZ.
Oxfam: 640 m3 in an initial trial for Aceh and 8,500 m3 for Sri Lanka – the largest shipment of Australian timber to a single destination ever.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has tendered for the supply of 16,000 m3 of sustainably-logged timber.
World Vision is trialling the use of alternative building materials including timber from Indonesian plantation-grown acacia and rubber trees.
The Australian government has stipulated the use of timber from well-managed sources in all its post-tsunami projects.
Timber donated by US timber companies had begun arriving in Indonesia.
More (Dec 2005):
WWF proclaims "Timber for Aceh success stories"
Emergency phase to April 2005 contained in www.freewebs.com/oznewz:
Microfinancing needs
Easter 2005 review
29 Dec 2004 - 16 Feb 2005
