Jayawijaya to pay Rp 12b for training

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: The Jayawijaya administration has allocated Rp 12 billion for human resources development in the regency for the 2002 fiscal year to train young people in the regency.

The head of the governmental section of the Jayawijaya administration, Yerry Wetipo, disclosed here on Thursday night that the funds would be taken from the regency's targeted revenue in the next fiscal year.

The funds will be used to finance Papuan students who were undergoing undergraduate and postgraduate programs in a number of universities and academies in Java, Sulawesi and overseas.

Wetipo admitted that Jayawijaya lagged far behind other Papuan regencies because the regency was located in isolated regions and mountainous areas of the province.

"It is necessary, therefore, for the central government to give special attention to the development programs in Jayawijaya, where people still live in severe backwardness and poverty," Wetipo stated. --Antara