Govt allocates Rp 204b for drought-hit areas

JAKARTA (JP): The government will allocate more than Rp 204 billion (US$25.5 million) in the next two and a half months to help restore food subsistence and develop the three drought-hit regencies in Irian Jaya.

State Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita said here yesterday that the funds are part of the total Rp 262 billion specially allocated for restoring the country's eastern most province, in which 673 people have died due to drought-related illnesses.

He told reporters after meeting with President Soeharto at his residence on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta, yesterday that it was part of a government program to handle the effects of this year's drought and labor problems.

"This crash program started last December and will run until the end of March," Ginandjar said.

The program includes efforts to provide food to the worst-hit regencies, maintain food sustainability, create productive employment and develop remote villages.

At least three Irian Jaya regencies -- Jayawijaya, Puncak Jaya, and Merauke -- have been affected by drought believed to have been aggravated by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

As many as 430 people died from drought-related illnesses in Jayawijaya, 24 in Puncak Jaya, and 82 in Merauke. In Mimika regency, at least 137 also reportedly died of malaria.

Ginandjar warned that the drought in the province, which has destroyed agricultural land and stopped this year's yam cultivation, could last until June.

He said 142,773 people in the regencies of Jayawijaya, Puncak Jaya, and Merauke, or 18.2 percent of the total population of 785,740 in the three regencies, were under the imminent threat of food shortages.

"The latest data from the Ministry of Social Affairs office in the province put the number at 143,604 people, plus those suffering the same plight in Mimika," he said.

Ginandjar said most of the budget from the government's crash program would go toward paying for transportation.

He said Rp 224.350 billion, or more than 85 percent of the budget, was needed to send supplies, aid and equipment to the mountainous jungle region.

Most of the drought-hit villages are located in remote and rugged terrain which makes the transportation of supplies extremely difficult.

Widespread forest fires in the province late last year caused a thick haze which also hampered aid efforts.

Irian Jaya is 3,000 kilometers east of Jakarta.

In December alone, the funds spent for relied operations and transportation costs reached Rp 57.9 billion. (prb/aan)