BRR inaugurates new houses in Aceh

BANDA ACEH: Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias (BRR) chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto officially opened a scheme of 45 new houses for tsunami survivors on Friday.

"Sixty houses will be built in the Lamnyong area, Syiah Kuala subdistrict, Banda Aceh, by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Forty five of these have been completed," Kuntoro said.

The Dec. 26 tsunami devastated coastal areas of Aceh, where over 131,000 people were killed and nearly half a million people made homeless.

The government set up the BRR last April to oversee the rehabilitation and reconstruction work in Aceh, and manage the huge reconstruction funds, much of which were provided by overseas donors.

According to Kuntoro, the BRR has so far constructed some 10,000 houses in Aceh and on Nias Island. He added that the agency was also overseeing housing construction projects being carried out by non-governmental organizations, which plan to build some 72,000 new dwellings. -- Antara