Rural works, Indonesia

Audit report covers the period 1975-80 and is based on site visits, document review, and interviews with USAID/I and GOI officials, and site visits. SP construction has witnessed extraordinarily fast progress. Since 1974, the Padat Karya Gaya Baru (PKGB -- the GOI"s food for work oriented rural works agency) has constructed 1,897 regular SP"s (for 839 of which A.I.D. contributed funds), 854 emergency SP"s, and 240 minor irrigation canals. Reflecting the labor-intensive orientation of the SP"s, 60 million person-days of employment have been generated at a cost of $5,400 per mile of road or canal construction. Although PKGB"s maintenance of roads has been uneven, the canals have contributed to trebled yields in some newly irrigated areas. Nonetheless, implementation problems have been encountered. Although GOI funding has been adequate, the GOI has been slow to release project funds and purchase a site for a training center (which was due to open 3/80) and has failed to provide the number or type of employees needed to implement the project (i.e., throughout the period PKGB has had only six employees). Moreover, PKGB professional staff still lack the capability to select, analyze, survey, design, and evaluate SP"s. Only in construction have capabilities improved. Training has been provided to all SP construction foremen; seven are being further trained to perform technical and economic analyses of SP"s. It is also planned that in 10/80 a consultant will develop a system for SP evaluation and devise a corresponding training program. In addition, the PKGB has failed to adequately account for $388,420 in funds advanced by A.I.D. in 1/77 and 7/77. It is therefore recommended that USAID/I require PKGB to present a realistic and definitive plan addressing the interrelated problems of staff capabilities and training center construction and also to provide a full account of advanced funds prior to A.I.D. release of further funding.