Resettlers need more land

Resettlers need more land

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: It won't be long before resettlement programs in the province will experience a shortage of land to develop, an official said.

The increasing number of investors in agro-industries and mining industries is the reason why there has been less land available for resettlers, according to the head of the local office for the Ministry of Transmigration, Najamuddin.

Antara reported yesterday that the ministry plans to resettle a total of 21,196 families in East Kalimantan for the current, sixth period of the Five-year Development Plan which started last year.

"If a family needs a two-hectare plot of land, that means we'll need some 43,000 hectares for all the resettlers," he said.

So far, the 7,294 families already resettled in the province have been given their land allotment, he said.

During the first five periods of the Five-year Development Plan, the province received a total of 56,724 families of resettlers or 232,000 people. They are now living in 191 resettlement locations.

All provincial offices of the ministry yesterday commemorated Transmigration Day.

In Jakarta, Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo said that 7.8 percent of the population, or some 14 million people, are resettlers. (swe)