Financial Times

Tsunami recovery gathers speed
Six months after Sri Lanka’s worst natural disaster, The Sunday Times takes a look at the progress of post-tsunami work. Coupled with a new logo which we hope to use in coming weeks, the paper discusses various aspects of the recovery process in the main, features and business sections dealing with among others housing, rehabilitation, education, counselling children and adults, tourism and fisheries. See Pages 8 and 9 for the FT’s contribution to the six-months-after tsunami special cover.

Reconstruction work to repair the damage wrought by the December 26 tsunami and to modernise battered infrastructure on the coast is slowly picking up pace six months after the disaster.

The recovery effort is expected to gather speed, especially in the north-east, with Friday’s signing of the operational management structure to share tsunami aid with the Tamil Tigers which saw the stock market rising on anticipation this would lead to a resumption of peace talks.

Construction work on five major bridges on the Galle road from Kalutara to Matara at Akurala, Seenigama, Magalla, Goyyapana and Weligama is to start in July and be completed in July 2006. Japan is funding the total project cost of $6.5 million.

Building of new homes for victims and fishery harbours has got under way while contracts have been signed for bigger infrastructure projects like repairs to roads, and most of the people affected are getting the temporary cash grants and rations doled out by government.

But delays owing to red tape or difficulty in finding land to house the displaced continue to plague the recovery effort along with the nagging uncertainty caused by the government’s hastily imposed coastal buffer zone, The Sunday Times FT found in an analysis of progress on post-tsunami work.

Forty percent of tsunami-victims who have lost their jobs still need means of livelihood six months after the disaster, according to a recent survey by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on the status of livelihood recovery.
Nine out of 10 men and women in affected areas lost their jobs due to the tsunami.As of May 2005, only about 60 percent of them managed to regain some source of income, the ILO said.

“Job recovery varies by sector, the most difficult of which are agriculture and trade,” it said. “Half of those who work in the fisheries have gone back to work. The main reason for not working is lack of assets and materials to work.”
According to the Task Force to Rebuild the Nation (TAFREN), total donor commitments to date amount to Rs 178 billion ($1.78 billion), almost meeting the total direct cost of rehabilitation and reconstruction of tsunami damage estimated at Rs. 180 billion (US$1.8 billion).

Donors have made a total commitment to date of Rs. 123 billion ($ 1.23 billion) with an additional amount of Rs. 21 billion expected in the short-term. This together with debt relief for 2005 amounting to Rs. 34 billion brings total donor commitments to Rs. 178 billion.

Construction work has already begun on 5,000 housing units for tsunami victims and work on 26,000 units will start by mid-July, according to TAFREN.
The World Bank has made about $150 million available to Sri Lanka for reconstruction of the damage caused by the tsunami and about $36.5 million has been disbursed so far.

Most of the money has gone to the first installment of the housing grants of Rs 50,000 a time and for livelihood cash grants, the bank said. About 140,000 families are benefiting from the livelihood grant scheme which provides Rs 5,000 a month for four months. So far, two months' worth has been handed out by government.

The World Bank's damage assessment in Sri Lanka found about 90,000 homes fully or partially destroyed by the tsunami. To help kick start the rebuilding process, the bank allocated an initial $40 million for permanent housing support cash grants.

So far, more than 11,500 households have received the first installment of Rs 50,000 (about US$500) to get the rebuilding going. Money, whether it's from the World Bank or other donors, is expected to flow quite smoothly to the 34,000 or so houses outside the buffer zone set-back from the sea, the bank said. But the situation is more complex for the remaining 56,000 houses inside the buffer zone.

“Most of the deaths occurred within the immediate coastal area, so the idea of a buffer zone is appropriate," Peter Harrold, World Bank Country Director in Sri Lanka is quoted as saying on the bank’s website.

"However, there are areas, such as the far north and parts of the east coast, where land is very scarce indeed, and suggestions have been made that in these areas the buffer zone rule could be applied flexibly." The World Bank has given a loan of $12 million and grant of $ 8 million for work on rehabilitating the Galle road which gets under way in the months ahead with construction to start in September this year on the stretch from Katukurunda (Kalutara) to Matara. It is to be completed by January.

Design work started in June on another stretch of the A2 road from Matara to Weerawila. Construction is to start in January 2006 and be completed by July 2008. The European Commission and ADB have given a grant of $35 million for this section and other roads in the south.

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