IDA spends US$ 135.3m for tsunami reconstruction

The International Development Association (IDA)-assisted tsunami reconstruction operations closed on September 30, 2008 with US$ 135.3 million disbursed mainly for livelihood restoration, housing reconstruction, and road rehabilitation.

Major achievements:

- Restoration of livelihoods for nearly 100,000 tsunami-affected families

- Reconstruction of about 45,000 houses

- Rehabilitation of 114 km of the tsunami-damaged roads.

IDA has just started a process of preparing an implementation completion report (ICR), which is expected to be finalised by the end of March, 2009.

Indonesian children holding a prayer meeting to commemorate 2006 tsunani victims.

The key lessons learned from the IDA-financed tsunami operations will be highlighted in the ICR, but below are some lessons learned:

Reconstruction needs to be driven by tsunami victims: Relative successes of the livelihood restoration program and the homeowner-driven housing reconstruction program, where cash grants were directly transferred to tsunami victims, show that reconstruction is best achieved when disaster victims are in the driver's seat.

In Sri Lanka, tsunami victims demonstrated strong ownership of the reconstruction process under these programs.

Reconstruction needs strong and accountable institutions: Sri Lanka's tsunami reconstruction was hampered from time to time by the dearth of effective institutions, especially at the central government level to undertake the huge task of reconstruction.

The change from The Task Force for Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN) to Reconstruction and Development Agency (RADA); and then from RADA to the Ministry of Nation Building, and the accompanying personnel turnover associated with these institutional changes negatively affected the reconstruction process.

These institutions were short of experience in public procurement, public financial management and safeguard issues, and lacked the capacity to carry out effectively the necessary coordination of a large reconstruction program with other government agencies, donors, and NGOs.

Reconstruction requires peace: Sri Lanka's tsunami reconstruction was negatively affected by the ongoing conflict.

The speed of reconstruction was much slower in North and East for obvious security-related reasons than in the South and West of the country. Under the IDA-financed housing reconstruction program, the completion rate in South West is about 98 per cent while that of North and East is about 92 per cent.

There are still more than 2,500 tsunami-affected families in the North and East (IDA-financed divisions only) who have not been able to fully rebuild their houses.