Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Activists have slammed the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias for failing to perform its duty, asserting that many of its working units are totally inactive.

The finding was disclosed by the Anticorruption Movement (Gerak) and several non-governmental organizations in Banda Aceh, Aceh.

"There are 145 working units from various sectors which still have not made payment orders (for projects funding)," Gerak's chairman Akhiruddin told The Jakarta Post. Progress was almost nonexistent, he said.

"Even for the most important sectors, like education, there has been no progress although the money is there," he said.

He said that last year, the agency received Rp 3.9 trillion from the state budget, of which Rp 3.4 trillion was still untouched. For the year 2006, the agency received Rp 9.6 trillion from the state budget.

Akhiruddin said many of the agency's staff and working units did not know what to do, and were plagued by poor coordination.

He cited the situation in Lampaseh village as an example. "The tsunami survivors have submitted all the necessary requirements to rebuild their village, including a blueprint and land documents. But it has not been rebuilt," he said.

He also lashed out at the agency for claiming to have built 35,000 houses. "I see they pay attention more to quantity than quality. Are they also counting all of the houses which are not fit to live in?" he said. He cited several houses in Neuhen village in Aceh Besar regency, that collapsed after being built due to poor quality construction.

The agency's communication director Mirza Keumala said the working units had not performed well as they were set up late. "So they haven't started working yet," he said. The agency's deputy communications director, Sudirman Said, said earlier that it would take at least four years from the time the tsunami occurred to complete the rehabilitation of Aceh and Nias.

It would be an impossibility, he added, to complete all the work within a year after the tsunami struck in December 2004.

Responding to the statement that most of the agency's budget had not been spent on projects, he said the agency did not spend it as scheduled since it received the money only in mid 2005 and the working units received it in September 2005.