VOA常速英语2007-Aceh Housing Reconstruction Nears Completion

By Trish Anderton
Jakarta
26 October 2007

The agency in charge of rebuilding tsunami¹-stricken Aceh, Indonesia, says it is on track to finish building houses there next spring. The Reconstruction² and Rehabilitation³ Agency is now shifting its focus to economic recovery. The head of the organization says significant challenges remain, including inadequate⁴ electricity and a lack of foreign investment. Trish Anderton reports from Jakarta.

More than half the roads destroyed by the 2004 tsunami have been rebuilt, airstrips and seaports⁵ are open for business again, and more than 500 new or renovated⁶ health facilities are in place throughout Aceh province. At a news conference in Jakarta, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency chief Kuntoro Mangunsubroto said almost all tsunami survivors⁷ have moved out of temporary housing.

"I'm glad to tell you, when it comes to housing, this month we just passed a little bit over 100,000 houses. And we are going to announce that our housing program will end in April 2008," said Mangunsubroto.

The 2004 tsunami claimed more than 160,000 lives in Aceh and left about half a million people homeless. Kuntoro says 3,000 to 4,000 people are still living in temporary barracks. They are former renters who are scheduled to receive houses and land of their own. Kuntoro says some of the existing houses need significant renovations because they were poorly built.

"A number of houses have not been occupied, a number of houses with poor quality, no drainage, [and] some houses [have] no electricity," he said.

Energy remains⁸ a significant challenge. Aceh was experiencing a power shortage even before the tsunami, and relies heavily on electricity imported from the neighboring province of North Sumatra. A coal-fired electric plant for Aceh is still in the planning stages, and Kuntoro is lobbying to revive a hydropower project that was put on hold in 2004.

Foreign investment is also in short supply. Kuntoro notes that at Banda Aceh's Malahayati harbor, almost all workers are unloading ships, rather than loading up goods for sale abroad.

"But, I can understand because the legal certainty is not there yet," he said. "Aceh as a special province has its own law but the law can't be implemented⁹ because the implementation¹⁰ regulation is not there yet."

The provincial¹¹ government says it expects to put those regulations in place in December. Kuntoro thanked international donors¹², who he said had set a world record by delivering 89 percent of the aid they pledged to Aceh after the tsunami.

The reconstruction chief says his agency is now helping¹³ local bureaucrats¹⁴ learn to manage Aceh's new airports, roads and hospitals. He says that, despite the ongoing¹⁵ challenges, he sees no major obstacles to the agency turning over its work to Aceh's provincial government as planned in 2009.

1 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

2 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

3 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

4 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

5 seaports   

n.海港( seaport的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Airports have joined seaports as ports of entry for the visiting foreigner. 机场和海港一样成为来访的外国人的入境关口。 来自互联网
• Sanya has 16 seaports, 10 islands and 180km of coastline. 三亚有16个港口、10个海岛和180公里的海岸线。 来自互联网

6 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

10 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

11 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

12 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

15 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。