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)