Transmigration revamps management

JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Transmigration plans to revamp the way it manages its resettlement program beginning next year, placing more emphasis on quality rather than aiming for a specific deadline.

Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo said that under the new system, the government will not rush to build sites and resettle the people within the same fiscal year as has been the practice thus far.

Starting next year, the government will allocate the budget for the development of the area in one fiscal year and the actual sending of the settlers in the following year, Siswono said as quoted by the Antara news agency.

Under the current system, the government allocates the budget for the development of the area at the start of the fiscal year on April 1 and the developers have until December to carry out their job. The settlers begin arriving normally around November and in some cases arrive when the site is not ready.

He said the old system was appropriate for transmigration programs in Sumatra where access is easier. But for far flung places like Irian Jaya, where Indonesia's transmigration program is now concentrated, it is more difficult to develop.

Siswono said he is optimistic that the government's transmigration program will achieve its target in the current fiscal year in terms of the development of the site and also the number of settlers it sent.

He added however that even if the government only managed 94 percent of the target, it would still be considered a success.

Under the general transmigration program, the government plans to resettle hundreds of thousands of families from the overcrowded islands of Java, Madura and Bali to other more sparsely populated islands.

Besides receiving houses and land to farm, the transmigrants are also incorporated into a development project in the area, usually a plantation or a forestry estate. (emb)