Saturday September 2, 2:14 PM
Malaysian tsunami aid badly managed
| Photo: AFP Click to enlarge |
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Millions of ringgit in aid money for Malaysian victims of the deadly 2004 tsunami was badly managed, while reconstruction efforts have been shoddy, according to Malaysia's auditor-general Ambrin Buang.
Ambrin was quoted as saying the money, handled by the treasury's National Disaster Relief Fund, was passed on to victims too slowly.
"There was a delay of between 24 and 527 days in disbursing 12.06 million (3.29 million dollars) in aid simply because there was a staff shortage," Ambrin was quoted by the New Straits Times as saying in his report.
"A lack of guidelines on how to disburse the money also contributed to the delay," he said, adding that aid agencies had yet to return 6.7 million ringgit in excess funds to the treasury.
Ambrin also outlined poor construction standards in the repair or building of houses in the tsunami-affected states of northern Penang and Kedah, which cost 9.83 million ringgit.
"Contracts were not signed, projects completed late and the quality of the work shoddy," he said.
"There are houses which still have defects despite work done to
rectify them."
Separately, 9.84 million ringgit in aid for fishermen to repair and purchase nets, boats and motors had been mismanaged, said Ambrin.
"The equipment to repair outboard motors was not to specifications," he said.
"The equipment could not be used as the fishermen did not have the skills. Its purchase did not come with supporting documents either," he added.
Ambrin said 32,180 ringgit had been spent to build a boat repair workshop -- but that the workshop was never actually constructed. New boats leaked and were of poor quality, he added.
"In the end, the fishermen rejected the boats," he said in the report.
Ambrin was not immediately available for comment.
Sixty-eight people were killed in Malaysia by the December 26, 2004 tsunami, most of them on the northern island of Penang.
Malaysians donated over 80 million ringgit to the National Disaster Relief Fund, which saw hundreds of people whose houses or fishing boats were destroyed or damaged eligible for compensation.
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