| Subject: Interview: World
Bank sets budget to rebuild E.Timor INTERVIEW-World
Bank sets budget to rebuild E.Timor
By Paul Tait
DARWIN, Australia, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The World Bank said
on Tuesday between $260 million and $300 million would be needed for medium-term
reconstruction in ruined East Timor and that it would seek most of the funds from donors
in Tokyo next month.
That figure is outside immediate humanitarian needs, which
the United Nations has set at $199 million, and the cost of the U.N. two-to-three year
administration of East Timor, said Klaus Rohland, head of a World Bank-led assessment
mission.
``We came up with an overall capital budget of roughly $260
million to $300 million for a three-year period, which we will still need to fine tune,''
Rohland told Reuters in an interview.
The first disbursement from a trust fund being set up by
the World Bank would likely be in about six months and the World Bank would itself
contribute about $10 million, Rohland said.
Rohland said his multi-agency mission was finishing a
100-page draft report on its two-week visit to the shattered territory and that he would
brief Sergio Vieira de Mello, the new head of U.N. operations in East Timor, later on
Tuesday.
Brazilian diplomat Vieira de Mello was due to arrive later
on Tuesday in the East Timor capital of Dili. He will head the U.N. transitional
administration in East Timor (UNTAET), which is expected to be in place for between two
and three years.
Formal briefings would be held with the United Nations in
New York next week ahead of an international donors' meeting being organised for Tokyo on
December 17.
The World Bank's mission included representatives from the
International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, the European Union and donor
countries like Australia, Japan and Portugal, as well as about 20 senior East Timorese
officials.
DEVASTATION SHOCKS WORLD BANK
Members of the World Bank mission expressed shock at the
extent of devastation in the former Portuguese colony hit by waves of violence by vengeful
pro-Indonesia militias after East Timorese voted on August 30 to cut ties with Jakarta.
Much of Dili was razed and some mission members said
between 70 percent and 80 percent of infrastructure across the territory had been
destroyed.
``We very much want to get to the donor community the
message that it is not an East Timor that is a typical post-conflict situation...it is an
East Timor that has been ravaged by militia destruction and that needs immediate
reconstruction,'' said Fernanda Borges, an East Timorese macroeconomic adviser.
Borges said the mission had identified a number of key
areas that required immediate action in order to build a sustainable East Timorese
economy.
These included removing blocks on roads and ports so
commercial activity could begin, establishing transportation, setting up a payments system
for the civil administration and the private sector, and setting up a taxation and customs
structure for non-humanitarian goods and services.
``That needs to be quickly done to establish the little
revenue that we can start developing,'' Borges told Reuters.
Crop planting was another immediate need ahead of the
imminent wet season, with assistance needed for the establishment of small credit systems
and the provision of tractors and tools.
Key economic institutions were also needed to ensure
competent management. ``Those are the priorities. It's a long list, but they are
interlinked and we can't have one happening without the other,'' Borges said.
23:12 11-15-99
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