France builds radio station in Aceh

JAKARTA: The French government is helping to build a radio transmission station on the west coast of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), so as to provide communications in an area devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

A French Embassy representative, Pierre Devoluy, said that the radio transmission station was being built at Blang Pidie, and could cover a radius of some 60 kilometers.

"We are building the radio transmission station to allow the refugees at Blang Pidie to get information on what is happening outside the area," he was quoted by Antara as saying on Wednesday.

Devoluy said that the station would be opened in July after the completion of the construction work.

"The radio station will be managed by the local community. We are also providing training for this," he said.

Radio transmission stations have already been built in major cities along the coast, such as Banda Aceh, Meulaboh, Lhokseumawe and Singkil.

The French government would also provide early warning system equipment for Aceh, he said.

"For the long term, we are building a satellite station to give timely warning. The satellite can send out warnings through the radio stations around the coast," Devoluy said.

He said the embassy would finish construction of the satellite station by the end of this year.

Also on Wednesday, French Ambassador Renaud Vignal said his government had disbursed 60 million euros (US$72.5 million) for relief work in Aceh over the past six months. The French government has also offered soft loans of 150 million ($181.5 million) euros.

He said that the money and other assistance had been directly provided to those who needed it to prevent corruption.

"We realize that there is a possibility that the money could be misused. So, we try to deliver our assistance directly to the community and to minimize the number of staff involved in the operation," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Vignal said that the French Embassy was tightly monitoring the local and international non-governmental organizations responsible for disbursing the relief aid. "There have been no reports of misuse of the money," he said. -- JP