B&V continues post-tsumani rehabilitation ADB project

The US consultancy Black & Veatch started work under a three-year contract with the Asian Develop-ment Bank (ADB) for the Irrigation Component of the Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project in Indonesia, specifically to mobilize a broad range of resources to enhance, strengthen and upgrade in-country capabilities.

Restoration and rehabilitation work by Black & Veatch began in late August 2005 across the Aceh province and in Nias Island, North Sumatra province. The company is working with the Provincial Irrigation Projects and Provincial and District Water Resources Services staff to implement all project components.

"We were all shocked by the tsunami and the earthquakes, but it was particularly devastating to those Black & Veatch staff with personal links to Aceh," said Nick Townsend, B&V Water (Asia) regional director of client services. "The Indonesian Government invited the B&V staff to assist with relief efforts and damage assessments within a few days of the destruction, and project engineers rapidly mobilized diverse resources to do so. Recently, the B&V team returned to North Sumatra to continue rehabilitation and restoration work.

The company will assist in restoring the irrigation facilities to 24,300 hectare along the northeast and southwest coasts in Aceh and in rehabilitating 7,000 hectares in the heavily damaged areas on the west coast of Aceh province. In addition, the project will focus on 2,300 hectares in the heavily damaged areas in the Nias Island, North Sumatra province.

Indonesia was hardest hit among the countries affected by the earthquake and tsunami on 26 December 2004. With some 126,000 killed, close to 100,000 missing, and more than 400,000 displaced, one in five of the Aceh population became homeless. The disaster completely destroyed most infrastructure services and livelihoods along a 200-km stretch of coastline between the provincial capital Banda Aceh and main west coast capital of Meulabou. The earthquake that followed on 28 March 2005, in the Nias Island, North Sumatra province caused additional damages to infrastructure.