The tsunami destroyed more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) of Aceh's coastline, left more than 168,000 people dead or missing, destroyed livelihoods and flattened infrastructure and houses.

According to schedule, 48,000 homes out of the needed 128,000 have already been built, said Mangkusubroto, director of the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR).

"What we planned, we've been able to carry out," he said, also citing progress in rebuilding the province's ports.

In April a 7.0 million Singapore dollar (4.5 million US) pier, funded by the Singapore Red Cross, opened in the west coast town of Meulaboh.

"But what's even better is that people's livelihoods are going very well," he said. "Eighty percent of the paddy fields have started production."

In September about 1,000 tsunami survivors laid siege to the BRR headquarters, complaining of the slow disbursement of aid.

"They are acting like they are a king and we are the subjects. There is no realization of the projects in the field," tsunami survivor Zulkarnai, who is living in barracks near the provincial capital, said at the time.

Mangkusubroto said most of the demonstrators were landless and had rented their homes before the disaster.

"It's true this is a group of people who have nothing," he said, explaining that their needs would be addressed next year.

He said they were among about 50,000 individuals still living in temporary barracks housing.

The British-based aid agency Oxfam on Friday called for the urgent rehousing of about 70,000 tsunami survivors still living in temporary shelter.

Oxfam director Barbara Stocking said that although reconstruction efforts had picked up speed, it was vital that relocation took place soon, as poor sanitation and the approach of the rainy season heightened the threat of disease.

"It's true there is a great deal that needs to be finished. Everybody wants it finished today," said Mangkusubroto. "But a lot has been damaged so we still need three years... 128,000 houses cannot be built in one or two years."

Mangkusubroto said the rains should not worsen the condition of those living in temporary housing because none are in tents any more.

"But for us, the rainy season means there will be a lot of logistical problems... It's tough because the roads become damaged and things like that."

Construction of a vital west coast road linking the provincial capital Banda Aceh with Meulaboh has barely begun nearly two years after the US Agency for International Development (USAID) took on the task. It is the largest reconstruction project planned but has been delayed by wrangling over its route and land purchases.

Mangkusubroto told AFP the biggest obstacle he faces is delivering building materials to where they are needed.

He said his agency has vowed to eradicate corruption in the projects it handles but that has proven difficult in a country named as among the world's most graft-prone by watchdog Transparency International.

With about 4,000 individual reconstruction projects, the agency has to expect a problem with "one or two" of them, he said.

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