UN: Billions of dollars donated by the international community towards rebuilding areas devastated by the tsunami that swept through South Asia will not cover the total cost of reconstruction, a United Nations official has warned as international aid organisations are calling an end to their worldwide appeals for funds.
The UN Development Programme estimates that the cost of reconstruction in affected countries could be $9.5-$12.5 billion, but pledges so far total $5.5 billion.
"The gap in funding could be between 40 and 60 per cent of costs," said Mr Hafiz Pasha, the UN assistant secretary general in charge of the global tsunami task force.
He said Indonesia alone needed up to $5 billion for reconstruction of the coastal area - a 200 km stretch from the provincial capital of Aceh, Banda Aceh, to Meulaboh, and up to 10 km inland - destroyed by the St Stephen's Day tsunami.
The UN had received most of the money requested for the first stage of relief - $925 million of a requested $977 million - but was now moving into a much more complex stage which would require a shift in focus from clean-up to rebuilding and rehabilitation.
"The relief operation was highly complex, involving many different agencies, and I think we have managed to avoid the worst case scenario in terms of disease breaking out," Mr Pasha said.
"But now we are beginning to make a transition from the relief to the early recovery stage which will focus on the physical infrastructure - clearing the rubble and helping people to re-establish their livelihoods.
"But for the reconstruction phase, I'm afraid it gets much more expensive; over the next three to five years we will need between $10 billion and $12 billion," he said.
Mr Pasha was in London, on his way to South Asia, to lobby the British government and its aid arm, the Department of International Development, as well as independent charities, to donate money raised for tsunami relief but not yet earmarked for specific projects.
His timing, however, coincides with a pull-back by some large agencies in their drive for tsunami relief. The French medical charity, Doctors Without Borders, has begun returning donations as it said it was oversubscribed for its work in the tsunami-hit areas.
Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said yesterday that it would close its fund on February 26th, two months after the earthquake that triggered the tsunami, having raised more than £300 million.
DEC, an umbrella for 12 British charities, said one third of money raised had gone to emergency relief.
The remainder would go to long-term reconstruction projects, said the chief executive, Mr Brendan Gormley. He said workers with DEC-affiliated agencies on the ground in tsunami countries felt they already had enough money to cover needs.
This confidence contrasted with Mr Pasha's appeal, which came with assurances, made in the wake of the oil-for-food scandal, that all funds would be accounted for. He said relationships were being established with multinational accounting firms "to ensure the money really gets to the target".
Corruption in the use of the massive sums pouring into tsunami countries is a great concern, as many are well known for graft.
Dr Kirsten Shultze, an Indonesia specialist at the London School of Economics, told a gathering at the International Institute of Strategic Studies this week she doubted the tsunami tragedy would trigger a change in Aceh's culture of corruption.
Mr Pasha said: "We are worried about corruption. One of the things we have done is to strengthen our procurement processes in Bangkok to ensure the operation is competitive and transparent."