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)