Wipe out bottlenecks in rebuilding

A statement attributed to World Bank Vice President and the UN's emergency relief coordinator, Praful Patel, by the Reuters news agency, we hope, would hold the attention of every party relevant to the post-tsunami, country rebuilding process in Sri Lanka, including the State. Patel was quoted saying that aid money siphoned to Sri Lanka was "getting held up on the ground," leading to a high degree of frustration, particularly among the local tsunami-hit sections of the population.

"There is impatience on the part of everybody, including the Government and the donors, about the pace at which things are moving", Patel explained. These observations should not only serve as an eye-opener to all concerned but help in prompting a searching self-scrutiny of their performance on the post-tsunami country rebuilding front. Patel is, of course, well-placed to give us an assessment of this kind on account of the key role the UN is playing in post-tsunami rebuilding. In fact, Patel occupied a significant position in the Lanka donor conference held in Kandy on May 16 and 17.

Pace or speed is, indeed, the key issue in the current country re-building exercise. The prime criticism is that palpable and substantial progress is not being made "on the ground," in the Lankan case.

Funds in abundant quantities have been siphoned to or have been pledged to Sri Lanka by the world community, but the lives of the disaster-affected and displaced have apparently not been touched by them. A countless number of tsunami victims, for instance, continue to languish in tents and makeshift houses. Complaints abound that housing plots are yet to be allocated to the homeless.

The State is faced with a gigantic challenge in this context but it is important that steady, although not necessarily spectacular, progress is made in the rebuilding effort. Even gradually, houses and homesteads must be built and the affected population recalled to their former ways of life.

With unprecedented aid flowing into Sri Lanka, the country's economic statistics may even prove impressive - the tsunami devastation notwithstanding - but this is not going to be a pointer to real progress. Of what good are glowing statistics, if the people continue to wither in poverty and deprivation? Real development would be registered only when the currently homeless are built homes and when they are returned to their former livelihoods. Relaunched industries and infrastructure would be further indicators of development. In short, concrete progress is the need of the hour.

The State needs to, therefore, find out and wipe out the bottlenecks to rebuilding. Apparently, the State administrative machinery in its entirety needs to be activated and reconstruction personnel galvanized into action. We also urge that contentions issues, such as the 100 metre buffer zone, are cleared-up without further delays.

It goes without saying that the Government needs to be helped solidly in this exercise. Constructive and not destructive criticism would help. We note that the Opposition Leader too has contributed his voice to the current chorus of criticism. This is a 180 degrees turn from initial pledges of assistance to the rebuilding effort. Where is the help which he so eloquently promised? What has become of the reconstruction fund which the UNP promised to launch?

Rather than engage in double-talk we call on the opposition to deliver on its promises.