Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – Muhammad Kalianda is tired of waiting for help to build a new home to replace the one destroyed in the December 2004 tsunami. So the 53-year-old teacher is slowly working alone to finish the building an aid agency promised him.
"My new home was abandoned by the contractor from the Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR), just like that, even though it wasn't finished," the resident of Peulanggahan village in Banda Aceh told The Jakarta Post.
When the contractor left, the house was far from complete. It lacks a proper floor and windows and is not stable. "I have to do everything my own. I've spent Rp 50 million (US$5,434)," said Muhammad, who also works as a tailor.
He said that the construction workers who had started the house had told him that the contractor was running out of money. "That's why the workers simply left my house," he said. He said he was finishing the work himself because he was tired of renting houses, which often were expensive and too small for his family.
At least 80 houses meant for tsunami survivors in the area have been abandoned by contractors hired by BRR and Oxfam.
"We heard that the BRR's houses were built with the 2005 budget and are not yet finished. But houses built in Peulanggahan with the 2006 budget are almost complete," said Alfian, a youth leader in the village.
He said they had visited Oxfam and BRR to ask the two agencies to complete the work but had not received a clear answer. "Oxfam said they're running out money to build the houses," Alfian said.
With the houses unfinished, many tsunami survivors are living in barracks, rented houses or with their relatives.
BBR spokesman Tuwanku Mirza said the agency was committed to building housing for tsunami survivors in Peulanggahan village. "We'll also process the contractors who simply left without finishing their jobs," he said.
Oxfam blamed increasing construction costs for the problem, saying that budget blow-outs due to expensive building materials had doubled their original estimates in Aceh.
"We will continue completing unfinished houses. We're still committed to do so," said Oxfam executive director Barbara Stocking.