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BRR mission to rebuild Nias Island wraps up
After three and a half years on the job, BRR Nias, the agency overseeing the reconstruction of Nias Island, officially closed up shop Friday, leaving as its legacy nearly Rp 2 trillion worth of infrastructure
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After three and a half years on the job, BRR Nias, the agency overseeing the reconstruction of Nias Island, officially closed up shop Friday, leaving as its legacy nearly Rp 2 trillion worth of infrastructure.
BRR head Kuntoro Mang-kusubroto said that by December, the agency had handed over infrastructure assets valued at Rp 1.8 trillion (US$160 million), including houses, roads, government offices, medical facilities, schools and airports.
“But some of the road construction is still in the finishing stages so that will be transferred in January,” Kuntoro told reporters in Medan before departing for the Nias capital of Gunung Sitoli.
The BRR also handed over on Friday a well-furnished local parliament building worth Rp 9.3 billion.
Kuntoro said the closure of the BRR office in Nias would be followed by the end of the agency’s mission in Aceh, the region hardest hit by the devastating tsunami in December 2004. “We have so far closed several offices in Banda Aceh. We hope to close the BRR office in Lhokseumawe on Tuesday,” he added.
The BRR, tasked with the recovery of the tsunami-ravaged areas in both Aceh and Nias, will have to end its mission by April 2009.
The agency started the rehabilitation in Nias in June 2005, three months after a devastating earthquake flattened the island.
The disaster cost Nias, one of the poorest regencies in North Sumatra, nearly 1,000 lives and about Rp 6 trillion in total damage.
Kuntoro said there was no need to worry about the capability of the local workforce in managing the assets.
“We have provided a series of training workshops for local residents, including the local administration staff. Let them develop self-reliance,” he said.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla had earlier expressed concern about the sustainability of the reconstruction projects in Nias because of the local workforce’s lack of skills.
Kalla asked donor countries involved in the Aceh and Nias rehabilitation projects to help sustain the projects by such means as providing scholarships to local people.
Kuntoro said that the BRR had also helped revive economic development by rebuilding the maritime, fishery, agriculture and tourism sectors, which were worst affected by the tsunami.
Former environment minister Emil Salim, representing the BRR supervisory board, praised the work of the agency after the tsunami.
“The government needs to adopt the working system of the BRR to speed up the construction of infrastructure across the rest of the country, including housing,” Emil said.
