Megawati inaugurates new projects in Kupang

Megawati inaugurates new projects in Kupang

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

President Megawati Soekarnoputri symbolically inaugurated on
Sunday a number of development projects worth more than Rp 704
billion in East Nusa Tenggara province.

The projects, financed by the state budget and foreign loans,
included the Rp 150 billion Tilong bridge in Kupang regency, and
the Benenain and Alkani bridges in the town of Belu, both valued
at Rp 8.1 billion.

Other projects that were inaugurated included irrigation works
in Kupang, East Flores, South Central Timor, North Central Timor
and Manggarai, all worth a total of Rp 94 billion.

On the same day, Megawati also officially opened a Rp 300
billion cement factory and ferry port in Teluk Gurita in Kupang,
and several elementary and junior high school buildings worth a
total of Rp 16 billion.

After the inauguration ceremony, the President, accompanied by
her husband Taufik Kiemas, returned to Denpasar on the resort
island of Bali to fly to Timor Lorosae to attend its independence
celebrations.

Also accompanying Megawati were a number of cabinet members,
including Coordinating Minister for Political and Security
Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Coordinating Minister for
People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, Minister of Home Affairs Hari
Sabarno, Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsah, Minister of
Manpower Yacob Nuwa Wea and State Secretary Bambang Kesowo.

Among the entourage were also former foreign affairs minister
Ali Alatas, and senior legislators from Megawati's Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Arifin Panigoro
and Mangara Siahaan.

Meanwhile, Ali Alatas suggested that East Nusa Tenggara should
no longer seek rights to conduct oil and gas exploration in the
Timor Gap after Timor Lorosae's independence.

He was responding to calls by the East Nusa Tenggara
administration and the provincial legislative council, as well as
local activists, for the central government to reopen talks on
the Timor Gap.

Alatas was quoted by Antara as saying the agreement between
Indonesia and Australia on the Timor Gap had expired, requiring
the country to stop demanding a share of the oil there.

Theoretically, the Timor Gap was part of Timor Lorosae
territory, he argued.

What needed to be pursued by Indonesia, however, was the
opening of talks with the new Timor Lorosae government on the
maritime border, said Alatas, who was serving as foreign minister
when the former Indonesian province voted to secede on Aug. 30,
1999.

He urged East Nusa Tenggara's government not to be pessimistic
about the possibility of more revenues from outside the Timor Gap
as the Timor Sea had the potential to generate huge revenues for
the province.

Alatas did not specify where the potential lay, however.

Since Timor Lorosae voted to break away from Indonesia, East
Nusa Tenggara has been striving to obtain a share of the Timor
Gap's resources.

The struggle has won the support of all elements in the
province, including politicians and activists from non-
governmental organizations.

The province's legislative council has even asked the local
government to allocate funds for a special working committee to
take responsibility for the campaign.