Cablegate: Sri Lankan Post-Tsunami Reconstruction Update (July
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001218
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EB A/S ANTHONY WAYNE; SA/INS FOR J. BRENNIG, N.
DEAN; PLEASE PASS TO TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION TASK FORCE;
TREASURY FOR C. CARNES; MCC FOR D.NASSIRY
SENSITIVE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV CE MV
SUBJECT: SRI LANKAN POST-TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION UPDATE (JULY
13, 2005)
1. (U) This cable provides information for the July 13,
2005 post-Tsunami IAWG meeting.
Maldives Update
---------------
2. (SBU) The Government of Maldives (GORM) informed Econoff
that Riluwan Shareef, Executive Director of the Ministry of
Finance, met with the Ministry of Planning on July 12 and
they have identified four harbors that they plan to rebuild
with USG assistance. In addition, the Planning Ministry has
given a July 17 deadline to the line ministries for
submitting details on these projects. Fathmath Nuzuha,
Assistant Undersecretary of External Resources Management at
the Ministry of Finance and Treasury promised that GORM
would forward all details at that time. Econoff has
requested that the GORM provide a list of programs detailing
purpose, justification, budgets and benchmarks for what GORM
hopes to accomplish with USG assistance.
3. (U) Embassy is analyzing the draft of the Maldives
bilateral agreement sent on July 12 from Washington. We
envision three parts in the monitoring process. Embassy
personnel could conduct periodic site inspections to assure
that progress is being made. However, audits (financial and
technical) will require outside personnel. Embassy is still
assessing what its administrative costs will be in
monitoring the programs. Embassy would appreciate
clarification on the following:
--What auditing procedures will be required? For example, do
we need to do a pre-implementation audit?
--When is the deadline for the expenditure of these funds?
--Could Embassy Colombo hire a local or international
contractors to audit national fund activities, rather than
using auditors from Washington?
--What are the monitoring obligations of Embassy Colombo,
especially pertaining to the technical aspects of the
projects? For example, could we hire a local engineer to
ensure that the projects implemented by the Maldives meet
technical requirements?
--However these tasks are accomplished, they will require
funding. We assume these funds will come out of the tsunami
appropriation, but need to know how to describe that in the
agreement and how funds for administrative expenses will
actually be handled. We understand that USAID does this
routinely in its bilateral agreements.
Sri Lanka: Housing Update
-------------------------
4. (SBU) During the July 7 biweekly TAFREN/Limited Donor
meeting, Tiluk Ranaviraja, the head of TAFOR (Task Force for
Relief), stated that 41,009 transitional units have been
completed and affirmed that it had the capacity to build up
to a total of 50,000 units without difficulty. However,
Ranaviraja acknowledged that 15-20% of the temporary housing
is not up to Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) standards and
will need to be upgraded. The representative from the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) argued that they estimate 30-40% of
the housing is substandard. All of the major donors such as
the ADB, the World Bank and the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) also raised concerns that the government
was not taking enough initiative to solve remaining problems
including upgrading housing and repairing auxiliary services
such as sanitation and water. There are additional worries
that there will be an even greater demand for temporary
housing when people currently living with host families
decide that they also want housing. Regardless, Ranaviraja
confirmed that he was going to report that he has fulfilled
his job as head of the transitional housing task force, but
stated that he would recommend that the government continue
to address the lingering problems.
5. (SBU) USAID Mission Director Carol Becker confirms that
most families needing transitional housing have now received
it, but that the transitional housing phase of
reconstruction cannot be considered completely over given
quality issues. USAID teams continue to regularly monitor
the quality of transitional housing completed with USAID
funds.
Uninhabited Tsunami Tents
-------------------------
6. (SBU) Recently, media reports have claimed that people
are still living in tents rather than government and NGO
provided temporary housing. Ranaviraja investigated these
charges and maintains that the media was using old photos,
and people who are still living in tents are there for
political purposes. The ADB representative also
investigated these charges and confirmed that anyone who
wants temporary housing has it at this point. Carol Becker
also stated that some people are still staying in the tents
because they believe that this will ensure that they receive
aid in the future.
Permanent Housing
-----------------
7. (SBU) According to the GSL, 212 MOUS have been signed
with donors to build 33,000 permanent housing units. TAFREN
claims that construction work has already started on 5,000
units and 15,094 households have received their first
installment of Rs 50,000 ($500) to rebuild damaged houses
outside the buffer zone. Participants at the July 7
TAFREN/Limited Donors meeting largely agreed that the
success or failure of the permanent housing program would
largely determine how the people view the whole Tsunami
effort. A possible future problem is that some NGOs that
promised to build houses have now disappeared and may no
longer exist. Jeevan Thiagarajah of the Consortium of
Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) argued that the government must
investigate the intentions of numerous NGOs that have yet to
follow through with housing.
Eminent Domain
---------------
8. (SBU) Obtaining land through eminent domain is fast
becoming a major bottleneck in the Tsunami Reconstruction
efforts. The 100m/200m buffer zone restriction has created
demand for land for the rebuilding effort. NGOs complain
that they cannot build houses until the government purchases
new land or finds a way to distribute public lands. Some
NGOs have been asking the government for months to obtain
this land for them, but the GSL has failed to do so in a
timely manner.
The New Vertical Buffer Zone
----------------------------
9. (SBU) According to local press reports, the Director of
the Coast Conservation Department Mr. R.A.D.B. Samaranayake
has said that the government has decided to permit
rebuilding within the 100/200 meter buffer zone in areas
located 3 meters above sea level in tsunami affected areas.
This would represent an easing of the GSL's earlier decision
to strictly prohibit new construction within 100 meters of
the coastline. There is currently no information available
regarding how many people this ruling will affect since it
is not known how much of the affected area is 3 meters above
sea level. There has not yet been any official announcement
on modifications to the buffer zone.
FEMA to the Rescue
------------------
10. (U) Embassy Colombo delighted to hear that FEMA is able
to make available Ms. Chris Jonientz-Trisler. We will now
work to put together the team from USGS, OFDA and FEMA to
allow us to have input into the GSL deliberations on the
buffer zone.
Debt Relief
-----------
11. (U) Embassy received the draft of the bilateral
agreement for debt relief in Sri Lanka. Econoff is
forwarding the bilateral agreement to Dr. Jayatissa,
Assistant Governor of the Central Bank and Mr. Jayamaha,
Deputy Director General, External Resources of the Sri
Lankan delegation for their review.
Supplemental Spending Measure and Tsunami Relief
--------------------------------------------- ---
12. (SBU) We hope to sign the bilateral agreement (SOAG)
with the GSL this week, but are still awaiting resolution
within AID Washington of how to handle OTI funds. As far as
we can understand, this is largely an accounting issue and
should be able to be resolved quickly.
13. (SBU) Comment: For the most part, Sri Lanka's temporary
housing phase of the Tsunami rebuilding effort is complete.
However, the transition from temporary housing to permanent
housing is going to be very difficult for the GSL. It will
take close coordination between ministries within the
government and with the international community to satisfy
all stakeholders. Reconstruction is now entering a critical
juncture that will determine the political success of this
endeavor. With regard to the Maldives, it is likely that
fatigue and human resource constraints have caused the
delayed response from the GORM. The Ambassador will be
visiting the Maldives next week and will discuss Tsunami
rebuilding issues.
LUNSTEAD