Contact:
Sabine Joukes: 0811 934 880
sjoukes@worldbank.org JAKARTA, December 14, 2006, The US$655 million Multi Donor Fund (MDF) for Aceh and Nias today released its 18 month progress report on tsunami recovery in Aceh and Nias. The Fund has proved an effective, transparent and empowering mechanism for channeling donor support to projects implemented by tsunami-affected communities, the government reconstruction agency the BRR and NGOs. In fact the initial MDF amount of US$540 million was raised recently following its strong performance. To date, the MDF has allocated US$482 million to 17 projects of which US$214 million has been disbursed. These include housing and community recovery, infrastructure and transport, environment and capacity building. After 18 months of operations, the Multi Donor Fund has rebuilt 2,100 houses, 6,500 more are under construction or repair, it built over 1,900 km of roads, 740 bridges, 240 school buildings, 1,143 irrigation and drainage units and 40 health posts. It granted scholarships to over 7000 children and micro- credits to over 3,500 people. These results are achieved through community participation, in which villagers are empowered to decide what is most needed in their community, implement the projects and monitor the quality of the results. In so doing, the Multi Donor Fund has become the largest employer in Aceh creating 10 million work-days of labor. Pak Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Co-Chair of MDF and Director of Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi (BRR): The success of the Multi Donor Fund shows that community driven projects deliver quick and sustainable results, while empowering the local communities. The Funds’ projects supported communities in identifying remaining needs. Therefore, the BRR will replenish these projects with its own funds to help fill the gaps at the community level. The Multi Donor Fund has also heavily invested in the recovery of infrastructure. Over the next three years, the Government of Indonesia, in partnership with the Fund, will build almost US$300 million of key infrastructure at provincial, district and village level. The Fund also supports the protection of Aceh’s forests and the conversion of waste material into productive resources, and has helped moving over one million cubic meters of tsunami debris from mostly agricultural land. Strengthening the capacities of local governments, civil society organizations, entrepreneurs and the people of Aceh and Nias to play a productive role in the future of Aceh and Nias, is a key feature of all Multi Donor Fund projects. Jean Bretéché, Co-Chair of MDF and Head of Delegation of the European Commission: The EC is pleased that the Multi Donor Fund has achieved great results after 18 months of operations. We are however, also aware of the challenges ahead and the need to focus on quality implementation of projects in the field. A lot remains to be done and we are committed to continuing to work together with the BRR and the local governments to support the overall objective of ‘building back better’. “We are very pleased that almost all of the 17 Multi Donor Fund projects are proceeding well. We do still have a problem with the land titling project which must be addressed urgently,” said Andrew Steer, Co-Chair of MDF, and Country Director World Bank. The Multi Donor Fund cooperates closely with the BRR and this is reinforced by the BRR co-financing of US$231 million with MDF funds, mainly for district infrastructure projects. The Multi Donor Fund finances projects in four sectors: Community Recovery: US$209 million and US$13 million BRR co-financing: housing, village infrastructure, land titles. Infrastructure and Transport: US$176 million and US$191 million BRR co-financing: transportation of reconstruction materials, ports redevelopment, flood mitigation, design and construction of key infrastructure. Building Capacities: US$65 million and US$27 million BRR co-financing: strengthening of district governments, civil society organizations, small scale road contractors and delivering technical support to the BRR. Sustaining the environment: US$31 million: tsunami waste management and protection of the Aceh forests.
The Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias, consists of 15 donors, European Commission, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, World Bank, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Finland, Asian Development Bank, United States, New Zealand and Ireland. For more details: please contact Sabine Joukes 0811 934 880 (sjoukes@worldbank.org) and/or log on to www.multidonorfund.org or refer to ‘Progress Report III, December 2006 – Implementing Projects, Achieving Results – 18 months of the Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias’.
Also visit: www.worldbank.org/id/tsunami |
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