Shoeb Kagda, Jakarta – With the wet season fast approaching, patience is running thin in Aceh. More than six months after the province was devastated by an undersea earthquake and the ensuing tsunami, life has yet to return to any sense of normality for the half million Acehnese who lost family and homes.

According to the latest statistics from the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR), 500,000 Acehnese lost their homes to the tsunami. Of these, 250,000 are still living in tents while another 150,000 are being housed in temporary shelters. The remaining 100,000 are either living with host families or have rebuilt their houses.

Enabling these displaced people to return to permanent homes is the most pressing task before the government and the reconstruction agency. With heavy rains on the way, life in the tent cities and temporary homes will become even worse. And with the rains will come disease.

After six months of putting up with squalid conditions, most Acehnese are impatient to move out, with a growing number now willing to return to the sites of their former homes, despite their fear of living next to the sea.

In terms of damage to physical infrastructure in the province, the scale of the task before the authorities is daunting. According to BRR official Eddy Purwanto, 116,880 houses were destroyed or damaged in 2,496 villages throughout 17 affected kabupaten (regencies) from a total of 21 regencies and municipalities in Aceh.

Of these houses, 57 per cent were destroyed and 12 per cent sustained major damage. The total area of settled land affected by the tsunami was 173,673 hectares, in which 35 per cent of the homes were completely destroyed.

The number of public facilities and buildings destroyed is no less staggering. Of 693 hospitals or clinics, 66 per cent were destroyed; 46 per cent of the 1,662 schools were destroyed; more than 40 per cent of the 2,580 mosques and religious buildings wiped out; 71 per cent of 1,412 government buildings destroyed; and 75 per cent of 1,416 units of kiosks and markets destroyed.

This does not include the thousands of kilometres of roads that have to be repaired or rebuilt and the hundreds of bridges that have to be reconstructed.

The BRR and the government have been working hard to get the reconstruction and rehabilitation phase of the five-year plan to rebuild Aceh fully under way. This week, BRR will hold the ground-breaking ceremony for the Meulaboh Port with ground-breaking for the Banda Aceh to Meulaboh road expected to be organised in a couple of months. All in all, some US$1.8 billion in projects have been approved.

Housing construction has started in numerous villages, with 91 houses completed and 792 being built in Sengkau, Mulat and Lhoong. The government in Jakarta, despite its best efforts, has found itself facing increasing criticism as the billions of dollars in aid and reconstruction funds have yet to materialise. International donors and non-government organisations have been slow to disperse the money they promised, as they are seeking greater accountability and transparency in how the money will be spent.

The government has also faced problems on the ground, chief among them lack of coordination between ministries, in the donor community, and between donors and the government. In rebuilding houses, the government has had to navigate through the problem of land rights.

Then there is a lack of building materials, as all Aceh's major ports were destroyed, so large container ships have nowhere to dock. These are pressing issues for the BRR and the government to resolve.

Thousands of young Acehnese have begun to return to their native land in search of jobs and with high expectations of starting a new life, given the huge amounts of money promised to flow into the province. Up to now, they have faced one disappointment after another, and it is only a matter of time before hope turns into anger.

Given the historic distrust between the Acehnese and Jakarta, any hint of corruption or even sluggishness on the part of the central government will be disastrous in terms of winning the long-term trust and confidence of Aceh people. Jakarta needs to move much faster to grab this one opportunity it has been presented to reshape a society long used to war and conflict.