'No funds to repatriate workers'

'No funds to repatriate workers'

MATARAM: West Nusa Tenggara's provincial administration has no
funds to repatriate 2,200 of its workers in Malaysia.

Abdul Kadir, secretary of the provincial administration, said
some Rp 500 million (US$50,000) was required to cover the costs
of bringing the workers home.

The 2,200 are part of 7,000 workers who have been arrested and
accommodated at numerous detention camps for having entered the
neighboring country illegally. The two countries have agreed to
share the total costs involved for the workers' repatriation and
the central government has offered to carry some of the costs
incurred by the provinces where the workers come from.

"The provincial administration has encountered some confusion
when seeking funds because it has never been allocated money to
handle such a problem in its budget," Kadir said here on
Saturday.

Sutanto, chief of the local manpower and transmigration
ministry office, said the workers would be repatriated in the
immediate future. --Antara