Heavy Oil project collapsing under its own weight

La'o Hamutuk recently obtained the January 2011 report from the Italian company  overseeing the $900 million national electricity project, and we have added its information to our web page on this project, which contains background and context, as does our blog entry late last year. This project will use 3/4 of the $599 million allocated to Infrastructure Fund for 2011.

The January report portrays a drastic deterioration in the quality of the work, although the pace has picked up slightly. A contract was signed with the Indonesian company Tehate for the Liquica-Maliana-Suai-Cassa-Betano part of the grid, after negotiations with DCP fell through. Wärtsilä has begun work, and invited EDTL to send people to Finland and Italy in March to observe factory testing of the first three generator sets. The number of Timorese workers on the project has dropped to 331, along with 591 workers from China.

 Here are a few quotes from the report:

• "[EDTL] was disappointed during the visit made in Dili substation on January 20th to see the site in a state of neglect."
• "with the present trend we believe that the Contractor is not able to meet the completion dates given to H.E. the Prime Minister."
• "From Liquica substation up to Lospalos substation ... no substantial progress is visible. The number of towers in this north part of the Power Grid is 554, at the end of January a total of 249 towers were erected, but many of them have missing pieces, are incomplete and require additional time to make an overhaul."
• "The situation which seemed had improved as far as the quantity of the work is concerned had been badly darkened and affected by the quality of the workmanship. A lot of reparation works are required and therefore towers can not be considered completed."
• "The Contractor is invited once again to take action on the issue of the Timorese workers to be trained as tower erectors."
• "The conductors strung in the section of 10 towers in Hera-Manatuto has been heavily damaged and must be dismantled and done it again."
• The heavily deterioration of the quality of the workmanship in the transmission line, the tower erection and the stringing of the conductors are carried out in a manner which do not have a proper word to be described — ghastly — horrible, the photos produced as evidence of the quality of the work show that workers are not at all qualified rather they are common labourer. The Contractor is warned that all the towers with defects and conductors damaged will not be paid for till all adequate reparation is carried out. The Consultant had shown a lot of tolerance collaborating in order to have the work done fast, but there is a limit to be tolerant .... Those workers responsible of this situation are incompetent and should be sent back to China and replaced.
• "Attending this meeting [two weeks later] are also the Leaders of all the Tower Erectors Teams (previously requested by the Consultant) to give them a strong warning that if they continue to produce such disgusting quality of the works all of them will be dismissed and sent back to China. The photos produced as evidence left them astonished. We hope that the lesson taught them something. The Contractor is warned for the last time that drastic measures will be adopted."
• "Pollution and environmental problem. Once more the Contractor is reprimanded for the fact that in the weekly report it is mentioned that is taking good care of the situation, but in the reality it is a mess in every working place.
  Yesterday the sea side and the beach in Dili were scattered with hundreds of pieces of red plastic sheets used to wrap up the steel structures bundles for protection during transportation, so it means that in Hera-Manatuto-Baucau all the waste are dumped in the sea and from there the current transported all these polluting waste up to Dili. Fisherman made a lot of complains for the fishing area polluted and all these plastic trapped in the fishing nets.
  CNI22 does not make a good reputation of itself."
• Two weeks later, CNI22 objected: "The Contractor considers the statement made by the Consultant exaggerated, but it is not because photos are there as evidence and fishermen can be questioned all the time."
• "The Contractor in the weekly reports always states that is taking good care of the [environment] situation keeping all the places clean and under control, but in the reality it is not like that, nothing or very little is being done concerning the protection of the environment."
• CNI22 and EB pointed fingers at each other about approval of drawings for transmission line materials, with EB calling CNI22's claim that EB is holding up purchasing by failing to sign off on drawings "totally groundless."
• "The Consultant reminded once more that the quality of finishing works [at Dili substation] must be improved. ... In the 20Kv building the concrete floor done is not in accordance to the drawing and must be demolished and removed."
• "Unprofessional handling of the materials during loading, unloading and transporting from the year to the site that causes minor to heavy damages of the materials."
• "Coordination to local residents around the work sites is not properly handled."

The January report reiterates concerns in previous reports about worker safety, health, housing, pollution, littering, sanitary facilities, lack of required permits, and failure to report or monitor environmental issues. "To date, [CNI22] has yet to commence the implementation of the [March 2010] Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan."

The Government's oversight of the project is lackadaisical, with only a few EDTL representatives attending project meetings. Although "by instruction of the Prime Minister, no compensation should be paid for the land," several land disputes have been left to the companies to work out. CNI22 blames EDTL for delays in clearing material through the port and customs, although ELC/Bonifica says it is the forwarding agent's fault.

Nevertheless, $90 million of Timor-Leste's money was spent on this project during 2010, $447 million more is allocated for 2011, with more than $370 million to follow. The EDTL project manager pointed out that Timor-Leste's National Parliament, by enacting the 2011 state budget, has "announced officially that the project will be completed within the year 2011, is CNI22 in the position to guarantee this time schedule?"

IMF report discusses critical economic issues

The IMF has just released its annual report on Timor-Leste's economy and financial management, dubbed the Staff Report for the 2010 Article IV Consultation. This year's edition is more than 70 pages long, and includes a Debt Sustainability Analysis co-authored with the World Bank.

The IMF reached different conclusions than the Government about a number of things in "the most oil-dependent economy in the world," including forecasts of non-oil GDP and advisable levels of public spending. They wrote that "Large uncertainties surround the medium-term outlook, including the path of oil prices and production, the magnitude and quality of public spending, and progress in business-enabling structural reforms." They observed that "spending at a slower-than-planned pace, consistent with the absorptive capacity of the economy, would stand a better chance of realizing high quality projects and crowding in private investment."

The report includes a statement conveying the Government's dissenting views.

As the IMF website can be difficult to access, La'o Hamutuk has copied the documents to our site. You can download the complete report (1.3 MB), which includes the following documents:

• Staff Report for the Article IV Consultation
• Informational Annex to the above Staff Report, on RDTL-IMF relations, World Bank-IMF Collaboration, relations with the Asian Development Bank, and statistical issues
• Joint World Bank/IMF 2010 Debt Sustainability Analysis
• IMF staff statement on new developments through 19 January 2011
• Public Information Notice summarizing IMF Executive Board views on 28 January
• Statement by IMF Executive Director for Timor-Leste, explaining where the Government disagrees with the IMF Article IV report

The IMF report relates to several important issues which La'o Hamutuk works on, including the 2011 State Budget, borrowing, the Strategic Development Plan and revising the Petroleum Fund Law. We will continue to analyze and publish about its observations and recommendations.

Corruption and the Resource Curse in Timor-Leste

La'o Hamutuk was recently asked to give a presentation as part of the Strategic Planning for Timor-Leste's new Commission Against Corruption. Our Tetum-language presentation (also translated into English) focuses on lessons to be learned from other countries as well as the characteristics of oil-export-dependent economies that encourage corruption. We pointed out some signs of corruption which can be found in budget, documents and suggested that CAC form a legislative division to ensure that future laws can prevent, rather than allow, corruption.

La'o Hamutuk foin halo aprezentasaun ba planimentu estratejeiku Komisaun Kontra Korrupsaun (CAC) nian. Ami nia aprezentasaun iha lian Tetum (mos iha Ingles) inklui buat balu Timor-Leste bele aprende husi rai seluk, no mos karakteristika ekonomia depende makaas ba exportasaun mina rai, bele hamosu korrupsaun. Ami dehan katak dokumentu husi Orsamentu Estadu bele fo indikasaun ba korrupsaun, no mos sujere katak CAC bele kria divisaun legislativa ida atu garantia katak lei foun sira bele prevene, la'os fasilita, korrupsaun.

Click for information on the draft Anti-Corruption Law currently before Parliament.

LH Submission on draft Basic Environmental Law

This a shortened version of a page on La'o Hamutuk's website.

In late January, Timor-Leste's Secretary of State for Environment (SEMA) circulated a draft basic Environmental Law for limited public consultation. On 28 February 2011, La'o Hamutuk made a 48-page, English-language submission on this draft law, in three parts:

• Narrative portion, discussing some overall concepts and general ideas
• Article-by-article commentary, including a revised English translation of the draft law
• Annex with suggestions from Chris Serjak

The following is a summary of our submission, which was assisted by volunteer international experts.

A healthy environment is intrinsically valuable.

The general approach of this law appears to be that of resource users - seeing environmental components as something to be exploited for material gain, and the environment itself is a resource. A more proactive way would be to define a necessary quality of environment (including the intrinsic value of the environment and its components) and minimize damage, protect/conserve and strengthen natural systems to enable sustainable use.

Environmental involvement should be “mainstreamed.”

Protecting and preserving Timor-Leste’s environment is not the job of a single State Secretariat or Ministry, but should involve the active participation of people and institutions throughout the Government, as a corollary to the Principle of Participation. Just as “Gender Mainstreaming” makes everyone responsible to ensure that women have equal rights and opportunities, “Environmental Mainstreaming” would encourage everyone planning projects or making decisions for the state to consider environmental implications of their actions. Every policy, law or regulation should be written with an eye to how it can impact on or protect the environment.

Public consultations

We thank SEMA for holding this consultation relatively early, although two NGOs were the only ones asked for input on this highly complex, critically important law. We urge a thorough, informative, participative, transparent, linguistically-accessible and open-minded way public consultation in all districts and other rural communities.

International perspectives are increasingly seeing the environment as a human rights issue,  including communities' right to exercise (or withhold) free, prior, informed consent to projects which could affect them.

Over the years, La’o Hamutuk has written more than 30 submissions. Many of these suggested ways to make public consultation more effective, including:

• Advance distribution of materials in Tetum and/or Bahasa Indonesia as well as other languages, in electronic form (as well as on paper), and on the internet.
• Allow at least one month, and more time for issues that will benefit from outside expertise.
• Enlist local civil society organizations.
• Report back to those who participated with a list of all suggestions received, what actions were taken in response, and why.

Timor-Leste’s Environmental Licensing Decree-Law  came into force less than three weeks ago. It was enacted without any public consultation, even though its preamble says “public consultation is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution, and also an instrument of decision-making process, which allows integration of diverse views and perceptions of the project....” We hope that Article 11 ("Public Consultation") of this Decree-Law does not reflect SEMA’s view of a proper public consultation, as it is about socialization , rather than consultation. If we had been asked, we would have suggested adding that:

• Decision-makers should use the consultation process as a source of information and perspectives to enable them to make better decisions.
• Special efforts must be made to obtain wide participation from local communities which may be impacted, especially vulnerable and remote populations.
• Stakeholders, civil society organizations, the public and especially local communities must be invited to participate.
• Consultation must be completed, and its results incorporated, before laws are approved or projects are allowed to proceed.
• The laws should be clear who is responsible for each step of this process.

Before enacting this Basic Environment Law, it would have better to develop a  national environment policy through extensive public consultation. Without such a policy, the principles underlying this law (to the extent that they exist) do not represent broad-based Timorese wishes and desires.

Environmental Licensing Decree-Law

Had there been a public consultation on the Environmental Licensing Decree-Law, we would have pointed out other basic weaknesses, including these examples which are also relevant to the Basic Environment Law:

• The sanctions are so small as to be meaningless for a large company – all they can lose is what they gained, so it’s a no-lose gamble to profitably destroy the environment.
• There is no obligation or sanction on state agencies or officials for violating this law.
• There is no provision allowing a potentially impacted community or person to ask a court to issue an injunction to delay or stop a project.
• The Law fails to acknowledge the potential for significant environmental impacts from the cumulative effects of small individual activities.
• The Evaluation Committee which recommends the requirements and issuance of a license should be independent and include representatives from several sectors.

Complementary legislation

The proposed Basic Law on Environment omits many details which will be in later  regulations enacted in a closed process, including:

• Sanctions for violations
• Security deposit
• Rules for use of renewable resources
• Regulating marine and coastal activities
• Mining, sand and gravel, and other nonrenewable resources
• Pollution
• Solid waste management
• Hazardous waste
• Environment Fund
• Supervision and enforcement.

These laws should be enacted soon, as the passage of this Base Law for Environment creates a legal hodgepodge. This law could list the UNTAET and Indonesian laws which remain in force, providing more legal certainty. Nevertheless, we do not encourage hasty enactment of Timor-Leste’s environmental legal framework. The weaknesses of the Environmental Licensing Decree-Law demonstrate the dangers of bypassing public consultation and Parliamentary debate.

Climate Change

Although climate change caused by the emission of greenhouse gases affects most of our people, it has been omitted from this draft law. A separate law to implement our treaty obligations may be also appropriate.

Although our emissions are low or exported, this will change when heavy oil power generation starts, the PEDN is implemented, the Tasi Mane petroleum corridor is built, and an LNG plant for Greater Sunrise comes on-line. However, as a signatory to the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol, Timor-Leste is committed to mitigation actions.

The people must act if the regulators fail to.

Even with environmental mainstreaming, there will be times when an destructive project has so much money or political backing that it may proceed in spite of violating this Law.

This can be made less likely with a mechanism where the courts can stop a project even if it has been licensed. Citizens who have been or will be affected by an activity should have standing to bring such a case to court, and judges should be empowered to issue temporary or permanent injunctions based on legal and scientific evidence, which can direct officials or project promoters to take certain actions or face criminal sanctions.

In addition to transparency already required by this law, the government should be required to give reasons for its decisions, demonstrating that they are consistent with the goals of the legislation.

Petroleum activities are more dangerous on shore than at sea.

Timor-Leste has been through several EIA processes for off-shore oil exploration. Although La’o Hamutuk participated in those processes, we were surprised to hear them cited as model processes. They are only good in comparison with the lack of assessment or consultation for virtually all other environmentally-sensitive projects, such as the heavy oil power plants.

Timor-Leste so far has experienced only a small taste of the petroleum industry, as all activities have been far out at sea. When onshore activities like the Tasi Mane project and the onshore LNG plant begin, the impact on human life, local communities and people’s livelihoods, as well as on complex land and coastal ecosystems, will be much greater.

Petroleum regulation here has been complicated by overlapping jurisdictions between DNMA, ANP and SERN, and by pressures to maximize short-term state revenues and company profits from petroleum activities.

La’o Hamutuk's 2008 report Sunrise LNG in Timor-Leste: Dreams, Realities and Challenges contains many environmental observations and recommendations, including:

• An LNG Project could double Timor-Leste’s carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere and will generate significant amounts of polluting materials, such as hydrogen sulfide, oils, garbage, sanitary water, and other waste. Timor-Leste currently has insufficient laws or capacity to regulate, monitor and control waste generation and pollution of this scale, and many important steps need to be taken:
• The Government should revise the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment. An EIA should include a detailed Environment Management Plan.  The EIA process should include informed local consultation and consent.
• A Pollution Control Law should specify limits to pollutants, including CO2 and other greenhouse gases, chemicals which affect sea, ground water and soil quality, as well as issues like flaring and noise pollution.
• A base law on the environment, incorporating pollution control and environmental impact assessment laws should also define conditions for decommissioning.
• Each law developed should include sanctions and/or penalties which are severe enough to compel compliance. Contractual agreements should stipulate that the operating companies obey these laws.

Conclusion

This draft law presumes that sanctions will deter destructive practices and encouraging those which protect the environment. However, has no strategic overview of the  system, and focuses on monitoring environmental damage after the event and finding out who should pay compensation. In the real world, the penalty often is cheaper than the value of the environmental degradation, or in many cases the pollute’ cannot be held to account.

Issues raised in the article-by-article part of our submission:

• Stronger and more specific wording, with loopholes or qualifications removed and implementation responsibility clarified.
• More attention to spiritual and cultural benefits from the environment and environmental services, rather than just economic benefits.
• Define "Ecosystem Services" (services provided by ecosystems including water purification, pollination, erosion control, soil formation and nutrient recycling), "Endangered Species," and "Vulnerable Groups" (women, the elderly, youth, poor, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, the disabled and displaced persons, as well as subsistence farmers and fishers).
• Strengthen references to international treaties, including advocacy in international fora for reduced carbon emissions and other environmental policies.
• Prioritize scientific expertise and evaluation in making decisions, to balance political and commercial pressures.
• Improve the quality, quantity, accuracy, and completeness of information distributed to the public, as well as transparency and reporting back regarding environmental monitoring.
• Develop how the state will recognize and promote Tara Bandu.
• Include lian nain and other traditional leaders in informing and representing their communities.
• Increase fines and penalties to deter violations.
• Improve coordination with land and planning related processes and legislation.
• Add Environmental Quality Standards on biodiversity and cultural resources .
• WHO standards are inadequate in the interim.
• Include freshwater and riparian ecosystems as renewable resources.
• Recognize that air and soil may not be renewable in human time-scales.
• Give more attention to dams, storm water runoff, waste disposal and activities at sea.
• Ban the importation of genetically modified organisms.
• Clarify confusion in institutional jurisdictions for extractive industries.
• Be more careful about exempting small-scale or household extractive use.
• Clarify environmental rules for sand and gravel extraction, and don't exempt beaches.
• Include concerns about negative impacts of some alternative energy.
• Use a broader concept of visual pollution.
• Remove support for carbon and emissions trading.
• Establish a governmental environment policy for procurement and construction.
• Clarify how compensation and benefits will be distributed to communities.
• Ensure that citizens can act if state agencies fail to perform their duties.

Ezekuta no Aloka Orsamentu Estado TL nian

Versaun naruk liu artigu ida ne'e iha website La'o Hamutuk nian (also English) no mos iha Tempo Semanal.

Orsamentu Estadu 2011 nian, fo autorization ba Governu atu gasta osan ho total biliaun $1.3 iha tinan ida ne'e. Ne'ebe boot liu dala rua kompara ho orsamentu original iha 2010. Fasil atu hamosu konfuzu ho numeru boot no politika partidaria, nune'e duni grafiku rua atu ajuda le'e nain sira hodi komprende saida mak orsamentu ne'e rasik hateten.

Grafiku sira ne'e, inklui informasaun kona-ba ezekusaun orsamental husi kada Ministeriu, durante 2010, maske ami hanoin katak funsaun prinsipal Governu nian laos atu gasta osan deit. Ministru ida bele atinzi ezekusaun 100% se nia nauk ka fakar hotu nia dotasaun. Maibe povo ne'ebe ne'e presiza rezultadu husi Ministeriu sira nia servisu sei nafatin labele hetan sira nia benefisiu. Maibe, numeru sira iha orsamentu la fo informasaun klaru kona-ba servisu lolos ne'ebe halo tiha ona husi orgaun estadu nian no oinsa orgaun nia servisu ne'e bele hataan ba povo nia nesesidade no nia hakarak. Povo bele hare ida ne'e ho sira nia matan rasik.

Notas (Hili grafiku atu hare'e boot liu)
1. "Governu tomak" inklui kombustivel ba EDTL no "fundu kontijensi" iha Primeiru Ministru.
2. "Seluk" inklui orgaun tomak no Ministeriu sira ne'ebe aloka osan menus tokon $5 iha 2010.

Grafika hatudu sai, montante osan ne'ebe aloka ba funsionamentu iha kada Ministeriu iha orsamentu rektifikativu 2010. Kategoria iha parte liman karuk ne'e mak refere kada orgaun. Iha parte liman los hatudu lala'ok atividade ne'ebe boot, inklui transferensia publiku husi Ministeriu Solidaridade Sosial (MSS), komponente boot husi orsamentu Defeza no Seguransa no orsamentu Infraestrutura, seguransa aihan (importasaun fos), PDD, no projeitu eletrisidade oleo pezadu. Barra husi projeitu oleo pezadu no Infraestrutura nian boot teb-tebes kompara ho kategoria sira seluk ne'ebe hare ba kiik, maibe kada kategoria ne'e gasta liu tokon $5.

Kada kategoria, iha barra rua: barra iha liman karuk mak 2010 no barra iha liman los mak 2011. Kor sira iha barra liman karuk nian hatudu ezekusaun orsamentu 2010. Parte ida ho kor mean ne'e hatudu osan hira mak lolos gasta ona, kor matak ne'e indika obrigasaun (servisu ne'ebe seidauk halao ka seidauk halo pagamentu), no kor mutin ne'e indika osan sira ne'ebe iha ona dotasaun maibe la uza.

Barra iha liman los hatudu orsamentu 2011, no kor sira hatudu osan sira ne'e mai husi parte orsamentu ida ne'e. Parte ho kor azul ho linha vertikal ne'e mak Fundu Konsolidadu ho montante tokon $682, . No parte rua seluk mak Fundu Espesial foun. Kor coklat ho linha diagonal reprezenta Fundu Infraestrutura ho montante tokon $599 no kor kinur indika Fundu Dezenvolvimentu Kapital Humanu. Maske Ministeriu sira la kontrola Fundu Espesial (maibe Ministru/a Finansa bele muda alokasaun sira ne'e husi tinan ida ba tinan seluk ka husi projeitu ida ba projeitu seluk), dadauk ne'e sira aloka osan ba seitor balun ministeriu ruma nian. Ami tau gastu husi Fundu Espesial hamutuk ho ministeriu relevante, atu hatudu alokasaun ba funsaun. Alokasaun boot husi Fundu Infraestrutura nian maka tokon $477 ba projeitu eletrifikasaun nasional (hatudu ho Ministeriu Infraestrutura), tokon $45 ba programa "MDG-Suco" (Objetivu Dezenvolvimentu Milenium nian ba Suco) atu harii uma ba komunidade lokal (hatudu ho MSS), tokon $19 ba halo estudu kona-ba projeitu Tasi-Mane (hatudu ho SERN), no tokon $8 ba programa komputador FreeBalance (hatudu ho Ministeriu Finansa).

Grafika ida ne'e hatudu oinsa povu nia osan ne'e gasta iha tinan kotuk no oinsa atu gasta iha tinan ida ne'e. Ida ne'e klaru katak investimentu iha kapital humanu no kapital produtivu lokal nian, hanesan edukasaun, saude no agrikultura, hetan osan menus duke infraestrutura fiziku no subsidiu sira.

Notas
1. Ami laiha dadus ba ezekusaun orsamental ba funsaun sira too 12 Novembru ne'ebe hatudu iha liman los, tamba ne'e ami estimatiza katak rasio entre parte primeiru no segundu husi trimetre ikus nian hanesan iha ministeriu ne'ebe relevante.
2. Barra hirak ne’ebe besik liu ba sorin karuk ne’e hatudu valor konstanta husi gastu ninian. Sa ida maka sei mosu wainhira orgaun do Estadu ida ezekuta tomak ninia orsamentu, no gasta nominal osan hanesan iha kada semana, durante tinan ida nia laran.

Grafika hatudu wainhira kada orgaun gasta nia osan durante 2010, nudar persentajen ida husi sira nia total dotasaun orsamental. Kada barra reprezenta total montante ne'ebe gasta durante tinan ida; karik sira gasta ona alokasaun tomak, hatudu iha grafiku ne'e bele to 100%. Barra mutin iha okos liu hatudu gastus durante trimestre primeiru (Janeiru too Marsu), barra ho kor kinur ne'e indika gastus durante fulan tolu oin mai, no kor laranja salpikadu (titik-titik) indika gastus durante trimestre terseiru. Tamba osan barak mak gasta iha fin do ano, ami fahe trimestre ikus nian ba metade: parte ho linhas diagonal ne'e indika gastus ne'ebe hahu husi 1 Outubru to 12 Novembru, no ho kor mean los ne'e indika gastus hahu 13 Novembru to fin do ano 2010. Linha matak iha barra liman los hatudu (skala liman los nian husi 1-12 hatudu gasta lalais husi orgaun depois 12 Novembru to fin do ano kompara ho gastus iha ne'ebe sira halo iha 2010 molok 12 Novembru.

Grafika ida ne'e bazeia ba dadus husi Ministeriu Finansa. Ami iha duvida katak ministeriu balun bele gasta osan povo nian dala lima lalais liu durante loron Independensia no loron Natal kompara ho gastus ne'ebe sira halo entre Janeiru no Novembru, maibe ami husik ida ne'e ba sira seluk atu deside karik nia rezultadu bele diak, ka numeru sira ne'e mak sala, ka osan ne'e ita fakar deit, ka iha indikasaun korrupsaun.

Executing and allocating Timor-Leste's Budget

A longer version of this article is on La'o Hamutuk's website (also Tetum). It is also in Tempo Semanal this week.

The 2011 State Budget authorizes the Government to spend $1.3 billion dollars this year, twice as much as the original 2010 budget. Since the big numbers and politics, can be confusing, we have prepared two graphs to help explain what the budget contains.

These graphs include information about budget execution of each Ministry during 2010, although we believe that spending money is not the purpose of government. A Minister could steal or waste his or her entire appropriation and achieve 100% execution – but the people who require the services the Ministry is intended to provide would be in trouble. However, budget numbers don’t show the work done (or not done) by state agencies and whether that work satisfied people’s needs – people can see that with their own eyes.

Notes for this graph, which you can click on to see larger:
1. “Whole of Govt” includes fuel for EDTL and the Prime Minister’s “contingency fund.
2. “Other” includes all organs and ministries which were allocated less than $5 million in 2010.

The graph shows the amount of money allocated to the functions of each Ministry in the final 2010 and 2011 budgets. The categories on the left portion are state organs, while the right part shows large sub-categories. The heavy oil and infrastructure bars are so large that the other categories look small, but each one spent more than $5 million.

The colors in the left bar for each organ show the execution of the 2010 budget. The red part is how much money was actually spent, green is obligations, and white was appropriated but not used.

The right bar shows the 2011 budget, and the colors show which part of the budget the money comes from. The vertically striped blue part is the $682 million Consolidated Fund. The other two colors are the new Special Funds: brown diagonal stripes represent the $599 million Infrastructure Fund, and yellow is the $25 million Human Capital Development Fund. These Special Funds are not managed by individual ministries, and the Minister of Finance can shift their allocations from one year or project to another. They are initially allocated to projects within the competence of particular ministries, and we show them that way. The largest allocations from the Infrastructure Fund are $447m for the national electricity project (shown with the Ministry of Infrastructure), $45m for the “MDG-suco” program to build local community housing (shown with MSS), $19m for studies related to the Tasi Mane project (shown with SERN), and $8m for the FreeBalance software program (shown with the Ministry of Finance).

This shows how public money was spent in 2010 and how it will be spent this year, and illustrates where public resources will go. It is clear that investment in human and local productive capital – education, health and agriculture, gets much less money than physical infrastructure and subsidies.

Notes for this graph
1. We do not have budget execution data as of 12 November for the functions on the right, so we have assumed the ratio between the first and second parts of the last trimester is the same as for the relevant ministry.
2. The left-most bar shows a constant rate of spending – if a state organ executed its entire budget, spending the same amount every week of the year.

The second graph shows when each ministry or function spent its money during 2010, as a percentage of their total appropriation. Each bar represents the total amount spent during the year; if they had spent the entire allocation , it would be 100%. The white lowest part of the bar bar shows spending during the first trimester (January to March), the yellow bar during the next three, and the speckled orange bar during the third trimester. Since a lot of money is spent at the end of the year, we have divided the last trimester in half: The diagonally striped part is from 1 October to 12 November, and the solid dark red is from 15 November through the end of 2010.

The green line to the right of each bar shows (on the right-hand scale) how many times faster each agency spent money during the last six weeks of 2010 than they did during the rest of the year.

This graph is based on data from the Ministry of Finance. We find it hard to believe that some ministries could spend the people’s money during Independence Day and Christmas more than five times faster than they did between January and mid-November, but we leave it to you to decide if the outcomes are good, the numbers are wrong, or the money was wasted.

Help La'o Hamutuk analyze draft Environmental Law

In late January, Timor-Leste's Secretary of State for Environment circulated a Portuguese-language draft of a basic Environmental Law (also PDF) for limited public consultation, with the letter at right. The Secretary accepted La'o Hamutuk's request to extend the comment period until the end of February.

La'o Hamutuk did a preliminary computer-assisted translation of the draft law into English (also PDF), and we are asking people and organizations to make your own submissions or to email us with ideas, suggested changes or other analysis which will help us write ours.

Update, 2 March 2011:

On 28 February, La'o Hamutuk submitted 50 pages of analysis and recommendations on this law to the State Secretariat for Environment, in three parts:

• Narrative portion, discussing overall concepts and general ideas
• Article-by-article commentary, with revised English translation of the draft law
• Annex from Chris Serjak, with 44 detailed suggestions 

Click for a summary of the submission or a longer (but still abridged) version.