Rp 551 b needed

Rp 551 b needed
to restore Nabire

JAYAPURA: The town of Nabire, which was devastated by a 6.4
magnitude earthquake on Nov. 26, 2004, needed at least Rp 551
billion to rebuild.

The central government initially allocated Rp 59 billion from
emergency funds to rebuild and restore infrastructure, public and
government buildings, places of worship and residences.

Some Rp 15 billion has been disbursed directly to Nabire
through Regent AP Youw's bank account and Rp 4.9 billion
channeled to projects handled by the public works office in
Papua.

Under the planned rebuilding program, the town center would be
relocated 15 kilometers inland toward the mountainous area of
Wanggar district applying quake-proof structures in buildings.

The Papua administration would also procure a seismograph to
detect quakes. -- JP

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ANPAa..r..
Focus-Study-Oil
JP/5/FOCUS

ITS develops
oil study

SURABAYA: The geophysics laboratory at Surabaya's Sepuluh
November Technology Institute (ITS) will be turned into an oil
and gas study center before making it into a study program in two
to three years time.

"The reason for (turning the laboratory) into a study program
is because the gas and oil potential in East Java has not been
fully exploited," said the institute's rector Mohammad Nuh.

He said that so far East Java has potential oil and gas
reserves, like Bojonegoro, Madura and along the northern coastal
area. However, a lack of human resources has made it impossible
to make maximum use of resources, he added. -- JP

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Focus-Riau-students
JP/5/FOCUS

No more student
dropouts by 2008

PEKANBARU: Head of Riau's education office, Tengku Dahril,
promised that if education programs run as expected, there would
be no more elementary school students dropping out of school in
the province.

In a meeting with the Pekanbaru Provincial Council Commission
E on welfare, he said that this year's budget would be mostly
used to complete nine-year compulsory education program as well
as to eradicate poverty.

"If this program runs as expected, then in 2008, all students
can pursue their education to junior high school level," he said.
-- JP

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Focus-Samarinda-graft
JP/5/FOCUS

Graft suspects
being questioned

SAMARINDA: Two suspects in an alleged graft case involving the
East Kalimantan Provincial Council's operational budget worth Rp
85 billion (US$9.4 million) were again being questioned at the
local prosecutor's office on Thursday.

The suspects were Soekardi Jarwo Putro, former speaker of East
Kalimantan Provincial Council in 1999-2004, and Khairul Fuad, the
deputy speaker of the council at the same time. Khairul now still
holds the same position on the council.

After the questioning from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Soekardi
said the questions were related to financial procedures at the
time when he was still in office. He added that the prosecutors
just confirmed what had been asked in previous questioning. -- JP