43,000 houses built for new transmigrants

43,000 houses built for new transmigrants

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Transmigration has built 43,229 houses for new settlers in the current fiscal year, the director general of settlement, J. Widarbo, told the House of Representatives yesterday.

Widarbo told legislators of Commission IV that the houses were built in 21 provinces, including provinces bordering Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

He said the ministry has now achieved 85.46% of its program for the 1995/1996 fiscal year which ends in April.

The directorate general, he said, has also prepared agricultural land, water works, public buildings and other infrastructure for new transmigrants.

"To realize the program, the office has also cooperated with investors and contractors," Widarbo said.

He said that due to budget restrictions, the quality of the houses is often below the migrants' needs.

Muhammad Chan, a legislator from the Armed Forces, asked the director general why much of the infrastructure is placed in remote regions.

"This means that the new condition of the migrants isn't much different from their previous state," he said.

He said the policy is incomprehension because transmigration aims to provide migrants better conditions. "There should be good coordination between the provincial office of the transmigration department and the local administration," he concluded.

Widarbo said transmigration officials had tried hard to boost cooperation with local leaders, but the latter have unnegotiable priorities.

Taufik Tayib, another legislator from the Armed Forces, urged the department to send as many migrants as possible to the border areas.

"If possible, 50 percent of them should be ex-servicemen," he said.

Widarbo said his office planned long ago to send at least five retired Armed Forces members to each resettlement unit in border areas.

"We have also built at least 8,000 houses along the border road between Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea," the director general said. (15)