Eight government universities make transmigration studies

Eight government universities make transmigration studies

JAKARTA (JP): Eight government universities have agreed to
conduct a number of studies for the Ministry of Transmigration to
find ways of improving the living conditions of settlers.

The agreement was signed yesterday by the Director General of
Housing and Environment Widarbo for the Ministry and the rectors
of the eight colleges: Bandung Institute of Technology, the Bogor
Agricultural University, the Surabaya November 10 Institute of
Technology, the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, the
Padjadjaran University in Bandung, the March 11 State University
in Surakarta, the General Soedirman University in Purwokerto and
the Hasanudin University in Ujungpandang.

The universities and their research agencies will conduct
studies in the areas of road and bridge engineering, housing
construction, applicative farming models, post-harvesting methods
for crops and applicative, effective and low-cost technology for
the new areas.

Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo, who attended
the signing ceremony, said the resettlement program is aimed at
spreading out the uneven distribution of Indonesia's population
and labor and strengthening national security and unity.

Under the transmigration program, the government has already
built 1.7 million houses, 21 ports, 49,000 kilometers of roads,
76,000 meters of bridges and thousands of places of worships,
community health centers, schools and towns to serve the needs of
settlers, he said.

He admitted however there was still much to be done.

"Many of the housing units are too isolated and too small.
They are often unreachable due to poor infrastructure," Siswono
said.

Other resettlement areas face clean water shortages and some
have been affected by an outbreak various diseases such as
malaria, he added.

Nonetheless, transmigration is necessary since every year
about 40,000 hectares of farming land on Java island is lost to
make way for residential and other purposes, he said. (pwn)