Lampung misses resettlement target

BANDAR LAMPUNG, Lampung: The local office of the Ministry of Transmigration failed to achieve its target to resettle 2,000 forest squatter families last year due to the ongoing economic crisis.

The head of the ministry's provincial office, P. Djogjapratono said his office only sent 343 families to Kalimantan and another 750 families to local sugar plantations.

"There are 85,139 squatter families in this province. We need to take quick measures to remove them from the protected forests as a part of our program to preserve our forests," Djogjapratono was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

In the 1998/1999 fiscal year the ministry is scheduled to send 750 families to other provinces.

"Through the transmigration program we can improve the squatters' living conditions," he said. (prb)