Norway gives grant for Aceh rebuilding

BOGOR: Norway has provided a grant of 13,700,000 Norwegian krone (about US$2.4 million) for the reconstruction of tsunami- affected areas in Aceh and North Sumatra.

The grant, to be delivered to the National Mapping and Survey Coordinating Board (Bakosurtanal), will be used to procure high- tech digital cameras to take aerial photographs over Nias and Simeulue islands, and along the west coast of Aceh.

The aerial photography, expected to start next week, will last for three months and will be followed by the establishment of an emergency geographic information system.

Bakosurtanal head Rudolf Matindas and a senior adviser to the Norwegian Embassy in Jakarta, Fred Nomme, signed an agreement on the grant at the Bakosurtanal office in Cibinong, Bogor, on Wednesday. --JP