Aceh on Sumatra island bore the brunt of the December 26, 2004 tsunami disaster, with more than 168,000 people confirmed as dead or missing and some 570,000 people left homeless. Critics have charged that reconstruction has been too slow.

"Whilst it was a slow start, I think most people feel that going into 2006, things are going to be better," World Bank country representative Andrew Steer told a press briefing on the reconstruction process.

He said two sound government decisions had contributed to the slower speed: to take a bottom-up, community-involved approach to rebuilding and to set up a new agency to oversee efforts.

"Those decisions did result in a slow start... But over time we believe those decisions would result in quicker and better implementation," Steer said, commending the moves as "the right approach."

The formation of the cabinet-level Aceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR), meanwhile, was crucial to putting rebuilding efforts high on the national agenda and ensuring proper coordination, he said, although it had put the brakes on reconstruction during the initial phase.

"But going into this new year, my belief is that that decision (to create the BRR) will be really vindicated," he said.

Only 16,500 houses out of a targeted 120,000 have been rebuilt.

Sarah Lumsdon, program manager of international charity Oxfam, said it was quite difficult for anyone to coordinate the multitude of non-government organisations operating in Aceh now.

Lumsdon said that "the BRR is really coming together in the last two to three months. It has been quite effective, it has been quite supportive of NGOs."

The BRR only began its operations in May.

She also said she believed the entire reconstruction effort was "not doing too badly" in Aceh, comparing it to the seven years it took to rebuild earthquake-devastated Kobe in Japan from 1995.

Steer also said the housing program was on track, with the construction of about 5,000 houses starting each month now.

Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer toured Aceh Thursday and praised progress being made in the reconstruction.

"Tremendous work has been done by the Indonesian government, non-government organisations and donors, including Australia, to rehabilitate the lives of peope here," he said.

"This is not an easy task. It's very difficult to do because the size of the destruction is very big," he added.

United Nations agencies in Aceh said separately that tsunami survivors can now apply for temporary land deeds to access housing support.

UN Habitat and the UN Development Programme said they are issuing leaflets explaining housing rights and entitlements to survivors which they can fill in and have signed by local officials to be used as a temporary land deed.

"The inability of tsunami-affected communities to prove land ownership and their lack of understanding of how to obtain assistance have both been major stumbling blocks in the reconstruction effort," the UNDP's Simon Field said in a statement.

Many deeds were either swept away by the tsunami or land was not actually registered beforehand, the UNDP said.

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