Contacts:
In Washington: Melissa Fossberg, (202) 458-4145 mfossberg@worldbank.org In Jakarta: Prabha Chandran, 5781+3000 / 62-21-5299-3000 pchandran@worldbank.org BANDA ACEH, April 7, 2006—Today, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz visited Gampong Baro, Banda Aceh, where over 270 new houses have been built under a Ministry of Public Works partnership with the World Bank. The project is funded by the US$ 530 million Multidonor Fund for Aceh and Nias (MDF), administered by the World Bank, which includes 15 donors with the European Commission (EC) as the largest contributor. Currently, over 1,800 houses are nearing completion under the first phase of the US $85 million Community-based Settlement Rehabilitation and Reconstruction program which will provide 5,000 new houses and rehabilitate 8,500 more by 2006. The highlight of the President’s two hour visit, however, was the handing out of land titles to some of the survivors of the Dec 2004 tsunami while visiting their homes: “Secure ownership of one’s house and land are among the most valued and cherished rights of all people,” he said. “For the tens of thousands of victims of the tsunami and earthquakes, it is critical that we ensure the property rights of the survivors, especially the most vulnerable groups, the widows, orphans and the poor.” Under the MDF-funded bouquet of projects, villagers like the ones in Gampong Baru benefit not only from new houses, but legal titles to them (which provide livelihood support) as well as infrastructure support for roads and drainage through the World Bank-administered Urban Poverty Program and the Kecamatan Development Program. Some of the recipients of land titles today, like Ibu Kartini, whose house the President visited, were particularly happy that today’s ceremony established their legal property rights, with all its economic implications. She told the President she planned to start a business using the title as collateral. Later, speaking to the community, the President said: “Several thousand land titles have already been distributed and we have reports of land owners borrowing against the equity in their properties to finance their businesses.” Gampong Baro, which was devastated by the tsunami, lost over 1,500 members of its original community of 2,038 and a third of its households. As in many other communities, most land boundaries in Gampong Baro were also washed away with the tsunami. The re-establishment of these boundaries was the first phase of the Land Titling project, executed by the Badan Pertanahan Nasional (National Land Agency) in partnership with the World Bank. To date, 130 land owners in Gampong Baro have received their land titles. The US$28.5 million project will eventually provide some 600,000 land certificates in Aceh and Nias. This morning, the President also took time to meet the local community and surprised them by speaking in fluent Bahasa Indonesia as he shared their experiences of the aftermath of the tsunami, the rebuilding of their houses as well as the establishing land ownership. Listening to the village-elected housing board explain the process, the President said, “What is most impressive to me is that the houses are built by the people themselves. And, most importantly, the money is managed by the society themselves in a transparent and open manner. I would like to congratulate the donors, the community and the BPN for their hard work.” The President also picked winners of a lucky draw organized by the project. As result, four community members received money to plant gardens around their houses. The US$28.5 million RALAS Land Titles program is a community-driven process and links up with the housing program which fully engages future house owners. Typically, as in Gampong Baru, block grants from the Urban Poverty Project, funded by the MDF, have contributed to the reconstruction of settlement infrastructure, and a major access road to the community is being built by the Multi Donor Fund-financed Flood Mitigation Project, executed by Muslim Aid.
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