[sustran] Lessons to learn? 'Delays mire U.S. road project in Aceh ' (From the New York Times of 8 Oct. 06)

Eric Britton eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Mon Oct 9 22:30:50 JST 2006


I would like to invite comments on this piece that appeared in yesterday's New
York Times, which to my mind in hugely rich with lessons that we all will do
very poorly indeed to ignore. The peice suggests some of the contradictions, but
really should have scratched further, because none of these are accidents. They
are part of a greater whole that we will do well to understand, not only in
rural countryside's in the Global South, but also in the streets and roads of
the so-called 'developed nations'. 

 

Here are the first couple of thoughts that come to mind that I hope will serve
to stir you to more and better:

 

1. One of the great problems that the Old Mobility folk (and if that is not
clear may I invite you to check into the Old Mobility section of the New
Mobility Advisory/Briefs - you will find it if you click to
http://www.oldmobility.newmobility.org/ ) have with the challenges of human
beings and social complexity, as opposed to the nice smooth world of vehicle
throughput and its kissing cousin speed, is that straight lines, heavy loads and
higher speeds are not necessarily the best solution to the problems of a complex
democratic society.  

 

2. The assumption of the experts and ultimately the politicians and
administrators who made up this entire project is that the old US model is what
"these people' need.  A quarter of a billion taxpayer dollars (hey, that's MY
money) buying them (whether they want it or not) a 'high standard' US road at a
million dollars a kilometer (please, try to imagine what could be done with this
money if the real problems and priorities had been addressed!  But no, let's
start with our solution and who cares about the problem. Eh?  Oh how heavy it is
the White Man's Burden. (Did anyone think to explain to them that it's 2006 and
the rules of the game have changed?)

 

3. What strikes me in the first place and above all is that the right road under
these circumstances would NEVER go in a straight line. For all kinds of reasons.


 

*       First, it ignores the social and cultural topography, something that is
every bit as important in any society as the physical landscape. All those
signals that the protesting locals are giving are in fact part of the solution,
not part of the problem.

 

*       Second, straight lines inevitably induce speed. So out they go. We need
to design roads that will both accommodate basic needs and ensure the well being
of all those whom it is intended to serve. 

 

*       Third, a high speed road induces the kid of rolling stock that takes
advantage of the potential for high speed and heavy loads. But is that what we
really want and need in this and thousands of other contexts - and not only in
rural communities of the Third World. 

 

*       Fourth, lower speeds - much lower speeds in fact, and I would need to
hear some convincing arguments indeed for designing such roads to accommodate
more than 30 kph speeds - permit the road to accommodate many of its traditional
economic and social roles. Vendors including of local produce, tire and vehicle
repair, and of courses all kinds of walkers who are not only numerous but very
important. And all this on the streets of New York City or serving people and
the economy in Aceh! 

 

4. A good road will serve the full range of social roels and needs. In poorer
countries in this new and one would dearly like to think more aware century, the
favored transportation should be what most people can afford - human powered
means, for both personal and goods traffic. You can design and build for that
and while I am not an engineer I bet that you can get a lot more than a
kilometer of such appropriate roads for a million dollars than just one.

 

At this point let me get out of the way and invite you to read on. But once you
have had your look, I would like to invite you to have a look at a few  videos
that we have set aside for your attention in this context only this morning.
It's pretty simple stuff by way of presentation, but the messages are anything
but. To get to them, please click to http://newmobilitybriefs.org
<http://newmobilitybriefs.org/> , then on the left menu The Challenge/Old
Mobility videos -you'll see.

 

And now your comments?

 

Eric Britton


 

Delays mire U.S. road project in Aceh 


By Jane Perlez The New York Times

Published: October 8, 2006









KEUTAPANG, Indonesia A $245 million stretch of blacktop intended to be the
signature good-will gesture from the American people to survivors of the 2004
tsunami has instead become a parable of the problems of Aceh's recovery. 

 

Construction of the 240-kilometer road, about 150 miles, along the devastated
coast has yet to start, stalled by a host of obstacles, like acquiring right of
way through residential and farm land; schools; and, particularly sensitive,
several hundred graves of mystical and religious significance. 

 

Though villagers welcome the idea, some have reservations about an
American-style thoroughfare with a wide shoulder on either side that will
replace the ribbon of churned dirt and mud. Villagers say they fear speeding
traffic - they have thrown rocks at fast-moving cars of foreign aid workers -
and want to be able to sell snacks and tea from stalls snug by the roadside, as
they have always done. 

 

The difficulties of getting started on the road, one of the largest
infrastructure projects in Indonesia, reflect the weariness among tsunami
survivors with the long return to normality. 

 

A demonstration outside the main Indonesian reconstruction agency turned violent
last month when protesters complained they still lacked basic services and
demanded more money for education. 

 

The patience of American officials is wearing thin, too. They complain that the
government has been too slow in buying up the land and resolving the fraught
issue of the graves. 

 

Lately, the Americans have become so disconcerted about delays that they have
tried to pry more action from the Indonesians by suggesting that the money for
the road could be diverted to the United States reconstruction efforts in
Lebanon. 

 

"It was threatened they would take the money away," said Kuntoro Mangkusubroto,
director of the Indonesian rehabilitation and reconstruction agency in Aceh. He
added with a shrug: "That's standard. I just swallow everything for the sake of
the road." 

 

The Indonesians say the Americans are imposing first world standards of
efficiency on a poor region that was pounded by civil war and then swamped by
the tsunami, which killed more than 100,000 Indonesians. Records of land titles
were washed away, and questions of inheritance among devastated families take a
while to decide, they say. 

 

The idea for the road evolved soon after the tsunami when the Bush
administration wanted to show that the United States cared about Indonesia, the
world's most populous Muslim country, in its moment of need. 

 

It was decided early on to finance one substantial American project that would
make a splash rather than a number of smaller ones. At first, rebuilding a
significant portion of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, into a kind of
"signature city" was proposed. 

 

Instead, a well-engineered road from the capital to Meulaboh, the southernmost
coastal town, which was nearly completely wiped out, was considered a more
fruitful project that played to the American strength of fast and modern
construction. The new road would connect the poor fishing communities of the
wasted west coast of Aceh to the outside world. 

 

But the Americans did not anticipate the long negotiations over compensation for
land or the strong local feelings about the graves. 

 

Tucked under a grove of coconut trees, a pale-hued boulder and an ancient tree
trunk represent this village's most mystical grave, the place where a white
tiger is believed to run loose in the event of human transgression. Nearby, red
and yellow flags left by surveyors indicated the American road is set to plow
right through the sacred spot. 

 

A local elder, Mohammed Noor, 60, who forded a river and clambered over fences
to show off the grave, says he cannot imagine that it could ever be moved. 

 

The problems with the road have not only to do with Indonesian sensibilities. An
audit by the Inspector General of the United States Agency for International
Development last March said the design of the road was delayed because the
development agency asked the contractor to modify the design plan at least four
times. 

 

It also noted that when the contract for the engineering work was awarded to the
American firm Parson Global Services, it was awarded in November, four months
late. 

 

By May, when the process was bogged down, a veteran of building big American
projects abroad, Roy Ventura Jr., was brought in by USAID to expedite things. 

 

On June 29, Ventura said he presented the Indonesians with the final plan for
where the road would run. He was told by Indonesian government officials, he
said, that right of way would be ready so construction could begin for the first
portion of the road to the village of Lhoong by July 25, and by Oct. 3 in the
area farther south to the town of Calang. 

 

According to that schedule, American officials said they expected the first
eight kilometers of the road to be completed by Aug. 23, and that new sections
of the road would continue to unfold after that. 

 

But instead, USAID is paying the Indonesian road contractor, Wijaya Karya, about
$100,000 a month to maintain the old road, money that should be going toward the
new construction, American officials say. 

 

"The Americans are arguing that there should have been land acquisition a year
ago," said Kuntoro. "But how could that happen when we did not know from the
Americans where the road was running until June 29?" 

 

Kuntoro, a graduate in engineering from Stanford University who understands
American impatience for fast results as well as he knows the Indonesian
preference for discussion, sometimes to the umpteenth degree, has become the
point man for many of the problems. 

 

He has been visited in his office in Banda Aceh by the American ambassador to
Indonesia, B. Lynn Pascoe, by Ventura, and this week by investigators from the
General Accounting Office in Washington. They all ask the same thing: When will
enough continuous land be ready so that bulldozers can begin clearing the way? 

 

In fact, Kuntoro said in an interview Tuesday, he had just written a letter to
Pascoe saying that his agency had gained title to 5.4 kilometers of continuous
land and major construction could start. 

 

But on Thursday, Ventura said that he was not satisfied that the titles were
transferred, and that work could only begin on a bridge involving a sliver of
land. 

 

"The road itself is no different to any place in the world," said Ventura, who
was with the Montana Highway department for 10 years and has managed
construction sites in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Philippines. "The process of
getting right to the land to get the road built is very different." 

 

In an exchange with the Governor of Banda Aceh, Mustafa Abu Bakar, the
frustrated Americans suggested that the governor consider using eminent domain
procedures for speedy possession of the land. In reply, the governor said in a
letter that in order to keep community support for the road he would use eminent
domain only as a last resort. 

 

"The government sees the people here as victims of the tsunami and very
vulnerable," said Eddy Siregar, a construction manager for the Indonesian
contractor, Wijaya Karya, as he sat on the side of the old road in the village
of Pasi, watching his men do maintenance instead of new construction. "It would
be a big trauma if their land was taken. So they want to try the soft way." 

 

Late Wednesday afternoon, Noor got word that his village leaders had agreed with
the provincial authorities to move the grave of the white tiger. 

 

"I can't imagine how they will do it," said a crestfallen Noor. "Will they do it
nicely, or will they do it roughly?" 

 

 

KEUTAPANG, Indonesia A $245 million stretch of blacktop intended to be the
signature good-will gesture from the American people to survivors of the 2004
tsunami has instead become a parable of the problems of Aceh's recovery. 

 

Construction of the 240-kilometer road, about 150 miles, along the devastated
coast has yet to start, stalled by a host of obstacles, like acquiring right of
way through residential and farm land; schools; and, particularly sensitive,
several hundred graves of mystical and religious significance. 

 

Though villagers welcome the idea, some have reservations about an
American-style thoroughfare with a wide shoulder on either side that will
replace the ribbon of churned dirt and mud. Villagers say they fear speeding
traffic - they have thrown rocks at fast-moving cars of foreign aid workers -
and want to be able to sell snacks and tea from stalls snug by the roadside, as
they have always done. 

 

The difficulties of getting started on the road, one of the largest
infrastructure projects in Indonesia, reflect the weariness among tsunami
survivors with the long return to normality. 

 

A demonstration outside the main Indonesian reconstruction agency turned violent
last month when protesters complained they still lacked basic services and
demanded more money for education. 

 

The patience of American officials is wearing thin, too. They complain that the
government has been too slow in buying up the land and resolving the fraught
issue of the graves. 

 

Lately, the Americans have become so disconcerted about delays that they have
tried to pry more action from the Indonesians by suggesting that the money for
the road could be diverted to the United States reconstruction efforts in
Lebanon. 

 

"It was threatened they would take the money away," said Kuntoro Mangkusubroto,
director of the Indonesian rehabilitation and reconstruction agency in Aceh. He
added with a shrug: "That's standard. I just swallow everything for the sake of
the road." 

 

The Indonesians say the Americans are imposing first world standards of
efficiency on a poor region that was pounded by civil war and then swamped by
the tsunami, which killed more than 100,000 Indonesians. Records of land titles
were washed away, and questions of inheritance among devastated families take a
while to decide, they say. 

 

The idea for the road evolved soon after the tsunami when the Bush
administration wanted to show that the United States cared about Indonesia, the
world's most populous Muslim country, in its moment of need. 

 

It was decided early on to finance one substantial American project that would
make a splash rather than a number of smaller ones. At first, rebuilding a
significant portion of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, into a kind of
"signature city" was proposed. 

 

Instead, a well-engineered road from the capital to Meulaboh, the southernmost
coastal town, which was nearly completely wiped out, was considered a more
fruitful project that played to the American strength of fast and modern
construction. The new road would connect the poor fishing communities of the
wasted west coast of Aceh to the outside world. 

 

But the Americans did not anticipate the long negotiations over compensation for
land or the strong local feelings about the graves. 

 

Tucked under a grove of coconut trees, a pale-hued boulder and an ancient tree
trunk represent this village's most mystical grave, the place where a white
tiger is believed to run loose in the event of human transgression. Nearby, red
and yellow flags left by surveyors indicated the American road is set to plow
right through the sacred spot. 

 

A local elder, Mohammed Noor, 60, who forded a river and clambered over fences
to show off the grave, says he cannot imagine that it could ever be moved. 

 

The problems with the road have not only to do with Indonesian sensibilities. An
audit by the Inspector General of the United States Agency for International
Development last March said the design of the road was delayed because the
development agency asked the contractor to modify the design plan at least four
times. 

 

It also noted that when the contract for the engineering work was awarded to the
American firm Parson Global Services, it was awarded in November, four months
late. 

 

By May, when the process was bogged down, a veteran of building big American
projects abroad, Roy Ventura Jr., was brought in by USAID to expedite things. 

 

On June 29, Ventura said he presented the Indonesians with the final plan for
where the road would run. He was told by Indonesian government officials, he
said, that right of way would be ready so construction could begin for the first
portion of the road to the village of Lhoong by July 25, and by Oct. 3 in the
area farther south to the town of Calang. 

 

According to that schedule, American officials said they expected the first
eight kilometers of the road to be completed by Aug. 23, and that new sections
of the road would continue to unfold after that. 

 

But instead, USAID is paying the Indonesian road contractor, Wijaya Karya, about
$100,000 a month to maintain the old road, money that should be going toward the
new construction, American officials say. 

 

"The Americans are arguing that there should have been land acquisition a year
ago," said Kuntoro. "But how could that happen when we did not know from the
Americans where the road was running until June 29?" 

 

Kuntoro, a graduate in engineering from Stanford University who understands
American impatience for fast results as well as he knows the Indonesian
preference for discussion, sometimes to the umpteenth degree, has become the
point man for many of the problems. 

 

He has been visited in his office in Banda Aceh by the American ambassador to
Indonesia, B. Lynn Pascoe, by Ventura, and this week by investigators from the
General Accounting Office in Washington. They all ask the same thing: When will
enough continuous land be ready so that bulldozers can begin clearing the way? 

 

In fact, Kuntoro said in an interview Tuesday, he had just written a letter to
Pascoe saying that his agency had gained title to 5.4 kilometers of continuous
land and major construction could start. 

 

But on Thursday, Ventura said that he was not satisfied that the titles were
transferred, and that work could only begin on a bridge involving a sliver of
land. 

 

"The road itself is no different to any place in the world," said Ventura, who
was with the Montana Highway department for 10 years and has managed
construction sites in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Philippines. "The process of
getting right to the land to get the road built is very different." 

 

In an exchange with the Governor of Banda Aceh, Mustafa Abu Bakar, the
frustrated Americans suggested that the governor consider using eminent domain
procedures for speedy possession of the land. In reply, the governor said in a
letter that in order to keep community support for the road he would use eminent
domain only as a last resort. 

 

"The government sees the people here as victims of the tsunami and very
vulnerable," said Eddy Siregar, a construction manager for the Indonesian
contractor, Wijaya Karya, as he sat on the side of the old road in the village
of Pasi, watching his men do maintenance instead of new construction. "It would
be a big trauma if their land was taken. So they want to try the soft way." 

 

Late Wednesday afternoon, Noor got word that his village leaders had agreed with
the provincial authorities to move the grave of the white tiger. 

 

"I can't imagine how they will do it," said a crestfallen Noor. "Will they do it
nicely, or will they do it roughly?" 

 

 

 

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