ACEH AND NIAS POST TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION BY SURVIVOR

PARTICIPATION

By:

J D Meigh, MSc, MICE, CEng Ir. Minanto BA, MSc Delft Ir. Abdul Rachim,
Member of ICID UK MSc in Development Management

1. Abstract

The earthquake of 26 December 2004 off the west coast of Sumatra resulted in a tsunami that
killed some 300,000 people and damaged farmland and irrigation systems, and hence the livelihoods
of the smallholder farmers. A further earthquake on 28 March 2005 killed 1,000 people in Nias and
damaged irrigation systems throughout the island. In August 2005 a design team were engaged by the
Asian Development Bank (ADB) to assist the Indonesian Government Bureau of Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction (BRR) to re-establish the irrigation infrastructure and management as a component of
the ADB grant funded Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project (ETESP)12. A participatory
approach was taken through the full development cycle by empowering survivors to form water user
associations, training them in construction techniques and, through WUA managed contracts, rebuilt
their secondary and tertiary systems. During the project the design engineers followed the BRR policy
of “building back better” by incorporating earthquake resistant design in higher risk areas. This paper
describes the participatory approach taken to restore some 93 irrigation systems over some 60,000ha.

2. Introduction

During the late 1990’s irrigation departments and lending agencies such as the World Bank and ADB,
and advisory organisations such as the FAO and IMMI which had been focussing on rehabilitation of
irrigation schemes started paying greater attention to participatory irrigation and the establishment
and engagement with water user associations (WUAs). In Indonesia consultant Black and Veatch
with its associate PT Multi Techniktama Prakarsa (MTP) through a series of projects including the
preparation project technical assistance (PPTA) for Participatory Irrigation and the Northern Sumatra
Irrigation and Agriculture Sector Project (NSIASP) were at the forefront of this change in emphasis
and developed much of the methodology and approach through piloting trials and extending them
to subprojects.

1
The $294.5 million ETESP, funded by ADB Grant INO-0002 to the Indonesian Government, comprises twelve components
covering post-tsunami and earthquake reconstruction of Aceh and Nias These are grouped into five principal sectors of
livelihood restoration, social services, community infrastructure, physical infrastructure, and fiduciary governance; with the
overall aim of systematic and participatory rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructure; effective restoration of livelihood ,
incomes; and the ability to provide the staple food to local populations; and the attainment of the Indonesian Government
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Irrigation Component (ETESP-IC) comprises part of the Community Infrastructure
Sector.

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During June 2005 David Meigh was engaged as an ADB staff consultant to assist the ADB prepare the
ETESP-Irrigation Component by drafting a Project Administration Memorandum (PAM) [Ref 1] and

preparing advanced reconstruction design on 6 schemes on Nias Island. The three year project was
awarded to Black & Veatch in association with PT MTP in January 2006 based on their experience of
participatory irrigation projects and knowledge of both Aceh Province through some 6 previous
projects and Nias Island under the NSIASP.
Figure 1 Irrigation Sub-projects in Aceh Province
Some 50% of the fatalities caused by the 24 December tsunami were suffered by rice farming and
fishing communities around the coast of Aceh Province. The two earthquakes caused widespread
damage on Nias Island to all infrastructure including rice irrigation schemes that provide the bulk of
the islands staple food crop. Details of damage to rice irrigation areas collected by local
administrations is given below.

Damage Location Earthquake (ha) Tsunami (ha)

2
Irrigation Aceh Province 95,741 11,457
Nias Island 13,311 660
Totals 109,052 12,117

The target areas to be covering under the Project were some 58,000 hectares of irrigated rice fields
on 93 schemes, as shown on Figures 1 for Aceh Province and Nias Island. The Project has responded
to earthquake and tsunami damage as well as rehabilitation of infrastructure that had deteriorated
during the civil conflict in Aceh and the severe environments that many of the structures are sited in.
Project requirements included:

 participatory component to empower farmers to strengthen traditional water user

associations (WUAs) to take part in planning, design and construction through specially
developed community contracts;
 review and upgrading of earthquake and tsunami risk approach and design criteria; and
 innovative infrastructure repairs and new adaptive earthquake resistant designs

The consulting services called for subproject participatory planning, preparation of detailed
engineering designs and contract documents, WUA empowerment, institutional support and
construction monitoring.

3. Regulatory Environment

After national political reforms that took place in 1998 the irrigation sector entered a new
paradigm for reforms, particularly concerning devolution. Presidential decree No.3/1999
(subsequently Government Regulation No.7/2001 on Irrigation) provided for the transfer of
the management of irrigation systems to water users association (WUAs) that are often
farmer communities, while the government took on a more regulatory role. Participatory
approaches to irrigation management have been introduced, involving farmer communities
in planning and decision making processes.

After issuance of Law No.7/2004 on Water Resources, Government Regulation No.7/2001

was replaced by Government Regulation No.20/2006 on Irrigation, and the Minister of
Public Work issued Ministerial Decrees Nos. 30, 31, 32, and 33 in 2007, which set the
guidelines to support participatory irrigation management (PIM). However, effective
implementation of these policies on a national scale still remains a big challenge, particularly
with revoking Law No. 7/2004.

To accommodate the implementation of PIM Minister of Public Work and Housing issued
Ministerial Decrees Nos 30/PRT/M/2015 on Development and Management of Irrigation
System. Article 4 stipulates that development and management of irrigation system should
be implemented in a participatory manner, prioritizing the interests and participation of the
farmers’ community

4. Unique Issues and Challenges for Irrigation Participation on ETESP

Previously participatory irrigation had been piloted and expanded in rice growing areas that
were socially stable. Aceh was a province where an independence movement had recently been

3
fighting the Government of Indonesia. Trying to carry out participatory rebuilding in a disaster area
created several unique issues and challenges such as:

1. The extent of psychological damage to survivors in tsunami damaged areas where making
provision for emergency relief and housing was higher priority so that time was required
before readiness for participation.
2. Before repairing infrastructure, tsunami schemes required sand, vegetation, house rubble and
glass to be cleared.
3. Extent of earthquake damage to infrastructure in Nias and need for new approach to
earthquake design.
4. Competition from other agencies for workers and materials drove up prices.
5. Initial reluctance of BRR Satker (GoI implementation unit) staff to involve farmers due to long
experience with contractors and little with WUA participation which required a long
preparation period.
6. Many schemes in Aceh had become severely damaged during the security situation period
when government staff were reluctant to travel to remote areas. Consequently O&M had
been neglected in all but a few major schemes. Many included projects were not strictly
earthquake or tsunami damaged.
7. There had been disproportionate deaths of women along the west coastal strip so that men
were faced with having to carry out the rice growing and production tasks traditionally carried
out by women.
8. Farming families above the Tsunami encroachment line were traumatized by losing family and
neighbours and having support services, marketing and communications cut and required
support to re-establish standards of living.

5. Infrastructure Damage

The earthquake damage to irrigation systems varied in terms of distance from the coastline and
earthquake thrust zone, but also due to local geology and superficial deposits which can transmit and
refract pressure waves and increased stresses. The earthquake damage to schemes was less in Aceh
than Nias and less on an East to West axis from the East Coast to western offshore islands. The second
earthquake epicentre near Nias affected the whole island causing failures of masonry and concrete
structures. The damage to irrigation infrastructure is described below and affected some 80% of all
masonry irrigation headworks.
a. Stone masonry intakes areas and abutment walls on diversion weirs had severe vertical and
horizontal cracks preventing water entering main canals (Plate 1).
b. Some diversion weirs had the main weir block fractured often resulting in piping and under-scour
failure (Plate 2).

Plate 2 Piping failure under weir block after

Plate 1. Abutment failure at Moafoa Weir cracking during earthquake
Nias
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c. Aqueducts, culverts and other canal structures had cracked and displaced masonry causing
leakage or cut off flows to major scheme sectors (Plate 3).
d. Cracking and displacement of canal linings (plate 4).
e. Embankments on roads, canals and drains were dislocated and had settled.
f. Cracks in soils parallel to rivers providing leakage paths around weirs.
The tsunami caused dramatic
changes in coastal
morphology and bathymetry.
Near shore shoals subsided
and submerged whilst coral
reefs had been uplifted and
exposed. Mangroves had been
swept away or buried. On
coastal plains the tsunami
waves picked up sea bed and
beach sand, decimated
buildings and inundated
coastal rice land with saline Plate 3 Temporary flume over failed Plate 4 Canal flume failure in Nias
water, sand, organic material culvert due to blockage and piping
and building debris including glass. An example of before and after is given in Plates 5 and 6.

Plate 5 Lower Kr Kala scheme before tsunami Plate 6 Lower Kr Kala scheme after tsunami
The waves killed a high proportion of the population on the low lying coastal plains between Banda
Aceh and Meulaboh. Exceptions were found where villages were close to hills and some warning was
given. Coastal protection works and bridges on coastal roads were demolished. Tsunami damage to
agricultural land was classified by the FAO3.

Class A, Low damaged area where an inundation of sand is less than 0.15m with shallow salinity and
volumes of organic debris.
Class B, Medium damaged area where sand depth varied from 0.15 – 0.5m and most habitation was
destroyed.
Class C, Highly damaged area with major disturbance, undulations and a good proportion of land
under water.
Class D, Lost area now under the sea and generally not reclaimable.

3 Framework for Soil Reclamation & Restart of Cultivation Aceh-Indonesia (2005), FAO

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6. Design and Construction Weaknesses

Studies of structures concluded many had design and construction shortcomings, particularly on small
diversion weirs, including:
a. Design had been carried out without reference to flood hydrology so that the structure and
closure embankments could not pass annual floods. Consequently many were overtopped,
frequently washed away or bypassed.
b. Weirs often caused the downstream river channel to degrade resulting in under scour, piping or
uplift failure to stilling basin aprons.
c. Weirs often had no designed stilling basin resulting in erosion downstream where the hydraulic
jump extended beyond the end sill or impact from boulders had destroyed the basin (Plate 7).
d. Structures had inadequate
stability design to prevent
overturning, piping or uplift.
e. Masonry and concrete had
been constructed with poor
materials, had many voids and
consequently leaked and
fractured easily during
earthquakes. The rounded
stones with poor mortar and
little curing, proved weak
(Plate 8). Plate 7 Weir with inadequate flood Plate 8 Typical masonry
f. Home made gabions used for capacity and failed stilling basin construction with rounded stones,
river training and bank weak mortar and left uncompleted
protection had rusted through and stones spill out of them.

7. Planning and Organisation for Participation

ADB through the Project Administration Memorandum (PAM)[Ref 1] required participation in the
planning and design of the repair of the irrigation systems. This had recently become a requirement
of the GoI through the New Water Law, the irrigation management policy reforms and also a mandate
of BRR through its ‘building back better’ policy. As part of the WUA support and empowerment
programme the project aimed to “provide water users training and community empowerment in all
project-assisted areas” through:
 development of water users associations (WUAs),
 participation in walkthroughs and plenary consultation meetings during design, and
 implementation of smaller rehabilitation works under SP3 contracts managed by the WUAs.
The overall participatory process is set out in Figure 3 from initial project preparation to O&M with
contribution from beneficiaries through WUAs and key stakeholders such as local government.

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 Participatory Contract & Participatory
Participatory
Planning Subproject Operation &
Construction
and Design Preparation Maintenance

WUA
Preparation

Regional
Facilitation
Government Project Participatory Process Figure 3
(through
Support COs)

Figure 2 Overall Project Participatory Process Notes: COs – Community organisers

8. Organisations involved in the participatory process

The institutional support structure is shown in Figure 3 with brief descriptions of the main
organisations4.

PPKs

Site
Engineers

Cos
Farmers

Figure 3 Irrigation Rehabilitation Organisation

Note: Acronyms given in text below.
1. RR’s project implementation unit, SATKER (Satuan Kerja) provides project management, with
authorized district managers (called PPK/Pejabat Pembuat Komitmen) appointed on a technical
basis for implementation.
2. Provincial and District Government, which are Bappeda and representatives of the Provincial
and District Water Resource Services are key members of the Provincial and District Working
Groups (PWG and DWG). They provide planning review, training through the Field Guidance
Unit (KPL, Kelompok Pendamping Lapangan) conflict resolution and post construction
management.
3. Irrigated rice farmers who are the primary stakeholders and beneficiaries of the project to be
represented through the water user associations (WUAs) and participated in design and

4 In the following text many Indonesian names and translations have not been included for clarity. Those wishing greater
information should refer to References 3 & 4

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 construction activities through community contracts called SP3 (Surat Perjanjian Pemberian
Pekerjaan).
4. Bina Swadaya, an Indonesian NGO, provides social facilitation of WUA groups through district-
based community management specialists (CMS) who train and supervise TPPs/COs (Tenaga
Pendamping Petani / community organizers), generally one CO per subproject or per 500
hectares, depending on scheme size.

5.The Consultant consortium led by B&V provided the detailed designs, regional coordination
between the Project, PWG, DWGs and the field teams comprising:
 Community Participation Specialists (CPS) and district coordinators (DC) to help coordinate
between COs, Satker, site supervisors, the Consultant team, and Bina Swadaya.
 Construction advisors (CAs) and monitors.

The process of dispute settlement also followed the lines in Figure 3. At field level, coordination work
of KPL, Site Engineer, CPS and CMS facilitated dispute settlement. In case the dispute cannot be solved
at the field level each will report to the district/kabupaten level through the DWG or PPK. Unresolved
issues at this level were referred to provincial level, PWG, Satker/BRR, BV Consultant or Bina Swadaya
to take action.

The approach5 which has been developed and applied in ETESP involved a series of four key farmers’
plenary meetings (pertemuan Pleno para petani) that are linked by integrated preparation activities
between the WUA members and the consultant and government teams.

Pleno 1: Introduction of Pleno 2 : presentation • Pleno 3: agree Pleno 4:agree the SP3
the project, selection of of the results of Consultant’s tender contract, review
farmer representatives walkthrough and designs & contract construction aspects
for walkthrough, election discussions to agree on arrangements: SP3 or discuss scheme O&M
and selection of TPP priorities for works (LCB) contract Plan

Joint walkthrough with Participatory design, Contract preparation Construction under

design engineers, PKK with designers working and training for SP3 Contract and
and KPL team to identify with WUA reps on administrative and preparation of O&M
needs preferred layout and construction Plan (Note 1)
structures WUA establishment

1. In practice only a few

of these meetings took
Figure 4 Participatory Process and Key Pleno Meetings place formally.

6. Implementation of the Participatory process

The BV WUA Empowerment and Development Unit (EDU) [Ref 2] began work in August 2005 to facilitate
walkthroughs and plenary meetings. Additional TPPs, nominated by communities, were recruited and
trained by Bina Swadaya from February 2006 commensurate with the addition of design areas and
activities.

5
For the design of the participatory process the ETESP-IC Consultants drew on the experience gained in the ADB
PISP PPTA and NSIASP carried out in North Sumatra Province as well as from the World Bank JIIMWP [Ref 3]
guidelines. These projects had shown that meaningful participation requires time and considerable effort to fully
engage all farmers in the process.

8
Plenary meeting 1

Pleno 1 was to bring the community together to

introduce the Project and to select a Community
Organiser (CO) from the community and farmer
representatives for initial activities before the WUA was
established. Throughout Aceh, irrigation schemes have
an established water management organisation called
the keujruen blang which was integrated on a scheme by
scheme basis as required by the farmers into the WUAs
with a constitution and bylaws to gain the status of a
legal body.
Plate 9 Pleno 1 meeting where women
System Walkthrough were encouraged to attend

As far as the ETESP-IC program for planning and design is concerned the system walkthrough is the
crucial subproject integrated activity between the WUA officials, CO, PPK, KPL, CMS and the
Consultant design team. This was the first step where continuous involvement and participation of
local communities was essential to ensure agreement on scheme rehabilitation and reconstruction
requirements.
Generally the water users know the improvements they need, but may not be aware of the full range
of options for achieving it. The walkthrough, field investigations and specialized visits with the
engineers formed the basis for identification and selection of main rehabilitation and reconstruction
options. During the walk through the group discussed and identified:

• Scheme boundaries, canal and drain

alignments or whether other options are
preferred
• Whether the water sources are adequate or
whether management of those sources
needs to be improved or augmented
• Specific locations and causes of damages,
malfunctions or constraints such as flooding
• Inventory of damage, including
measurements of infrastructure damage
and discussion of whether to be repaired
or replaced Plate 3, Walkthrough to quantify damage
• Whether they wanted canals lined and what type of lining.
• Discussion on operation & maintenance and how improvements can be made

On most schemes the single most crucial structure is the headworks as this abstracts the water from
the river and is subject to the harshest of environments. The walkthrough is the first step in a process
of failure identification and design development to achieve a sustainable structure adapted to the
river environment.

Plenary meeting 2
This was held after the system walkthrough as a beneficial to have a follow up meeting and
discussion to verify the above field information, agree essential works required and to prioritize the
work in case of budget constraints. Follow on topographic survey and site investigation needs were
identified and preparation of tender documents commenced. Often it became clear that the farmers’
perceived needs and their proposals were often unachievable by the consultant designer or allowed
by the PPK. However, by minimizing disputes during construction and following principles of service

9
provision and need for participation it was possible to compromise the farmers’ needs with adequate
technical and rational design.

Training was an essential part of support and initially for

elected community coordinators (COs) in:
• WUAs/WUAFs formation including legalization.
• participatory approaches and methods
• essential technical knowledge & skills
• quality control of construction works
• contract administration and accounting
• informal in-service training
This facilitates the WUA in establishment activities:
 revitalization of the existing WUAs/WUA
federations or establishment of new WUAs (by Plate 4 Training session for COs
integration with traditional organisations)
 preparation and development of constitution bylaws
 tax registration and legalization
 opening a WUA bank account
 capacity building in local resources mobilization, simple and applicable book-keeping, basic
technical abilities, knowledge & skills and project contract administration & budget
preparation and reporting.

The consultant team prepared scheme tender designs

with inputs from technical specialists that required:
• site visits accompanied by focus group members
to see key structures and locations and discuss
repairs or options for replacement.
• discuss current methods of, and problems with,
water abstraction and management and possible
technical options to satisfy the WUAs needs
• land acquisition needs on permanent or
temporary basis under a Community Action Plan
(CAP)
Plate 5 Construction training for WUA
Plenary Meeting 3 members at start of WUA contracts

This meeting was mainly for:

 Willingness of farmers to form a WUA with legal status to enable a SP3 contract
 Internal arrangements of the WUA in financial administration for transparency among members
 Willingness of farmers to pay in cash or kind through work for an irrigation service fee to fund
and participate in operation and maintenance (O&M).
 deciding on the construction contract model with options of a Local Contractual Bidding (LCB)
with or without a community subcontract (KSO)6 or by a direct WUA SP3 contract
 explanation, review of tender drawings for technical aspects and any necessary modifications
 completion of community action plan7 (CAP) requirements including any formal land acquisition

6
These were subcontracts to the LCB contracts where the appointed contractor would subcontract some of
the labour related tasks to the WUA. They were generally disliked by farmers who considered the contractors
exploited and often cheated them.
7
CAP generally required the community to arrange agreement on canal alignments and land compensation.

10
  preparation of the required budget and bid documents for SP3 contracts.
The tender and construction design approval process was iterative to:
• meet the approval of the WUAs
• meet the requirements of consultants QA checks on engineering safety, technical competence,
appropriateness and engineering value
• explain the designs to the PPKs with possible modifications or design notes to meet approvals.

Plenary Meeting 4
This meeting was intended to agree on the SP3 contract and prepare the O&M plan. In practice, owing
to the crash nature of the project, no of contracts and shortage of time these items were agreed in
informal meetings with the appointed WUA representatives. The completion of the SP3 contract
signaled an advance payment for materials so that the contract could start. Towards the end of the
project the consultant set up an O&M Planning Group to discuss O&M needs and planning. The larger
schemes, over 500 ha would mainly be handed back to the District Water Resources Service for
management. Generally an O&M pack was provided for each scheme giving irrigation layouts,
drawings of key structures and simple O&M guidelines.

7. Aspects of Earthquake Resistant Materials and Design

Under the Project there was a tendency for larger irrigation structures such as weirs to be
rebuilt or repaired using LCB Contractors whilst the WUAs tackled the smaller canal systems. Within
this paper only the smaller systems are discussed here8.
Throughout Nias the standard masonry designed structures and canal lining fared badly during the
earthquakes. Designing for normal environmental conditions are covered in the Government of
Indonesia KP series of design guidelines9. Whilst this provides a firm basis for design in lower
earthquake risk zones, designers have followed it in a prescriptive manner without thought of
earthquake shock forces. In Nias and much of Aceh, masonry and concrete had been constructed with
poor materials or badly built with many voids and consequently leaked and fractured easily during
earthquakes.
Designers were recommended [Ref 6] to use materials better suited to resisting earthquakes and more
likely to remain operational after the event. When repairing or upgrading canals the WUA were
informed about the advantages of mesh
reinforced concrete (MRC) lining with frequent
joints instead of masonry lining or rectangular
flumes. Initially this was designed for the high
earthquake risk zones, but as the news spread
many WUAs in other areas requested this
option[Ref 7]. In the MRC design the mesh and
trapezoidal shape is intended to give greater shear
resistance whilst 2:1 side walls formed with inner
wall shutters gives greater stability as a U section
in soft ground or where cast on fill which tended
to be more compressible. The design was
restricted to channel depth of 1.5m otherwise
Figure 4 Detail of mesh reinforced concrete canal

8
David Meigh has produced a more comprehensive paper on
earthquake design aspects in Aceh and Nias, [Ref 4].
9 DGWR KP Series, Irrigation Design Guidelines, [Ref 5].

11
longitudinal joints are required and support depends on the strength of the fill.

It was initially proposed to only line main and secondary conveyance canals. The tertiary distribution
system is usually overlain on impermeable clay soils where earth canals were considered the most
suitable material as they are easily repaired by the farmers following earthquakes. In practice most
farmers decided at Pleno 2 that they wanted new lined canals to reduce maintenance tasks. They
perceived operation would improve and hence preferred the MRC design (see Figure 4). Unfortunately
a proposed design for tertiary level canals based on precast slabs was 40% cheaper but was not
adopted. This would have been more economic for the WUAs to use with savings used to further
extend their canals. In high risk areas some small irrigation structures on soft ground were also
designed with MRC bases instead of masonry.

8. Construction

During the construction period support on

technical issues was provided by the Consultants
regionally based Construction Advisers whilst
institutional and administrative support was
provided by the Consultants main office. Both
provided support in administering the SP3
contract as necessary. A WUA construction team
is shown on Plate 10.

The Project was completed in December 2008

with many of the above design initiatives
constructed. Plate 7 WUA building their lined canal

Some 490 community contracts were carried out through the water-user associations with most a
success with good to reasonable standards of construction achieved. The programme increased
community capacity, confidence building as well as income generation into villages that had lost so
much.

The 129 local competitive bid contracts were mainly let to inexperienced local contractors that initially
produced poor quality work. This was only marginally improved following greater scrutiny from the
consultant construction advisors.

Most of the reinforced concrete earthquake resistant designs were implemented, although some of
the more conservative construction managers reverted back to masonry designs.

9 Environmental and Social Safeguards

Environmental and social safeguards were documented for each of the 93 sub-project as required by
all ADB supported projects and were harmonized by the requirements of BRR.

Environmental Safeguards

In April 2005 the overall project was categorized as a “B” project based on the Initial Environmental
Examination (IEE). A new Government Decree No. 308, 28 September 2005, which modifies the
existing regulation confirmed that all subprojects were exempt from requiring full EIAs. As subprojects
were not defined in detail at that time they had to undergo individual IEEs and submission on a sub-

12
district basis in IEE reports. Each subproject must also submit an individual environmental assessment
checklist and environmental categorization form.
The overall Initial IEE indicated that the ETESP irrigation component was expected to have a
significant positive impact on the environment, including rehabilitating damaged systems, providing
employment opportunities and reviving agricultural productivity. The overall project was not
anticipated to create any significant adverse impact on the environment, and any potential negative
impact in a limited number of cases would be localized, short-term, and could be mitigated.
Government Decree No. 308/2005 catered for the ETESP reconstruction and expedited the
environmental assessment and review process. The Decree assigned the Regional Environmental
Impact Control Agencies (BAPEDALDAs) in Aceh (NAD) and North Sumatra (SUMUT) the
responsibilities for reviewing and approving environmental assessments.
In preparation for implementation the Consultant assisted ADB to prepare an Environmental
Management Plan (EMP) that included monitoring measures, to be included in the bidding and
contract documents. The contractor or WUA took over the main responsibility to implement
environmental mitigation measures in line with the approved EMP and report monthly during
construction. The Satker field staff had the task of controlling the effective implementation of
mitigation measures as part of an environmental monitoring programme through monthly reporting.
In practice monitoring reports became part of the Consultants monthly construction reports and
Quarterly Reports. Deficiencies in the implementation of the EMP were observed in the areas of:
 Tsunami sand clearing (removal and disposal)
 River gravel extraction
 Soil erosion, sedimentation control and using rivers to dispose of excess spoil material
 Oil and fuel handling
 Sanitary conditions at work camps,
 Temporary flooding
 Encroachment in adjacent farmland, community gardens and other vegetation
 Temporary disruption of irrigation water supply and access roads to villages
 Reluctance to reinstate temporary storage sites for building materials.

Social Safeguards
An Initial Poverty and Social Assessment (IPSA) for each subproject recorded tsunami impacts on the
scheme population and identified and screened potential impacts on land and property. The
assessment identified that in many projects there was a higher survival of males to females with
subsequent impacts on traditional social and agricultural roles.
Most works by the project were rehabilitation of existing canals and headworks, which did not
require new land acquisition. Some works, such as canal widening, construction of new canal
alignments and relocation of headworks did require land from local landowners. Often those
affected would also benefit from the project and were willing to voluntarily contribute land. For
example the strip of adjoining field required widening a canal. Where the affected persons did not
benefit or larger amounts of land were required, they often asked for compensation. This was
usually arranged internally within the community, but in some cases a government compensation
budget was required.
Land acquisition was to be carried out in accordance with GoI requirements and ADB guidelines. The
ADB-EMS office provided a standard form to document landowner’s prior informed consent to

13
provide their land. For sites where land acquisition was needed, Community Action Plans (CAPs)
were prepared to document the relevant information and activities. CAPs were included as part of
Subproject Preparation Reports (SPPRs) and required ADB approval before the civil works related to
the land acquisition could begin. Several issues have appeared in relation to CAP preparation and
implementation:
 In some cases where no heirs to the land in question could be located.
 Need for complete data in the CAP. For example some CAPS required additional
information to confirm the affected land was less than 10% of total landholding.
 Delays in clarifying and resolving design issues that required CAP updating.
 Often during construction, unanticipated needs for land acquisition sometimes occurred,
requiring action to resolve the problem and an updated CAP.
 Initial agreements could not always be implemented and a LARAP would be required
or change in the design.

10. Acknowledgments

Ir Totok Hartono, the team sociologist who provided much of the participation information
unfortunately passed away before the project was completed. His special brand of leadership,
enthusiasm and affinity with farmers will be missed. From ADB the author would like to thank Chris
Morris from ADB Manila for his vision of participatory reconstruction during project planning[Ref 8], and
the two Black & Veatch team leaders, Harry King during design and David Brown during construction,
for their dedication in seeing the project through.

References
1. Asian Development Bank, May 2006, Project Administration Manual,
2. Hartono T. Nov 2007, Participatory Process and Empowerment: Lessons Learned From ETESP
Irrigation Sector in NIAS, B&V Team Sociologist. http//www.adb.org/Projects/ETESP/Participatory-
irrigation-Aceh.pdf. Accessed 07/08/2009.
3. DHV Consultants, June 2003, Java Irrigation Improvement and Water Management Project
(JIWRMP), Implementation Completion and Results Report, The World Bank/DGWR
4. Meigh J D, November 2009, Aceh emergency support for irrigation –building back better,
Proceedings of ICE, Civil Engineering 162 Paper 00017
5. DGWRD, 1986, Irrigation Design Standards KP Series, Volume KP 06 Design Criteria, Structural
Parameters.
6. Black & Veatch, February 2008, ETESP-IC, Final Report, ADB/BRR: Annexe A, Design Note. Annex B
water-user association Development & Empowerment. http//www.adb.org/Documents/Produced-
Under-Grants/39127-03/default.asp
7. Hartono T. Nov 2007: Participatory Irrigation Approach in NAD – The Case of Introducing Concrete
Canal Lining through Participatory Construction, ADB Article
8. Final Report, October 2005,Grant No. 0002-INO: Project Preparation, ETESP (IC), ADB

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