Reconstruction efforts face financial hurdle

Reconstruction efforts remain incomplete almost a year after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake rocked
West Java.

The provincial administration announced that their efforts would likely miss this year’s target because of financial constraints caused by overdue installments expected from the central government.

Of Rp 1.2 trillion (US$120 million) in assistance funds earmarked by the central government, only Rp 1 trillion has been disbursed, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawansaid.

“The central government has also postponed the promised May to August disbursement,” Heryawan said.

The provincial administration has only reconstructed or repaired around 20 percent of the 260,752 homes damaged by the Sept. 2, 2009, quake.

The quake killed 34 people and displaced more than 1 million residents in 14 regencies and cities in West Java, forcing them to take refuge in shelters.

The worst-hit areas were the regencies of Bandung, Ciamis, Garut, Kuningan, Tasikmalaya, Cianjur, Sukabumi and West Bandung, and the Tasikmalaya municipality.

The 2009 and 2010 West Java and central government funds set aside for recovery totalled Rp 1.7 trillion, Heryawan said.

The first stage of assistance was disbursed at the end of 2009, amounting to Rp 500 billion.

“That left Rp 1.2 trillion for the second stage, but only Rp 1 trillion has been disbursed so far, while the status of the remainder is unclear,” Heryawan told reporters in Bandung on Monday.

The central government initially stated that it was willing to provide Rp 1.7 trillion for quake victims in West Java, but the figure was later amended to about Rp 1.23 trillion because the government also had to provide disaster relief to quake victims in West Sumatra.

The suspension of financial support sparked protests in Bandung regency, where some residents have threatened to boycott the regency’s upcoming regional election this August.

One reason victims were disappointed was because the central government had required the establishment of regional disaster mitigation agencies in each municipality and regency to disburse relief funds allocated by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

The measure is required by a 2004 government regulation on working plans for disaster relief, but apparently the regulation was never put to effect.

Quake victims had high hopes the funds would help them repair their damaged homes, West Java Disaster Mitigation Agency chief Adjualaprana Sigit said.