Indonesia funds housing for East Timorese refugees settled in West Timor

10/26/2006 10:25:55 AM EDT

BBC MONITORING INTERNATIONAL REPORTS

This item reported that the Department of Social Affairs allocated 72bn rupiah [approximately 7.9m US dollars] for the construction of 5,000 semi-permanent housing units for East Timorese refugees living in West Timor, East Nusa Tenggara. According to the article, each unit would cost 14m rupiah and include two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen.

Head of the East Nusa Tenggara Social Affairs Agency Frans Salem reportedly said the houses would be dispersed throughout the Belu, North Central Timor and South Central Timor Districts. The item reported that the housing would be for refugees who already owned land but that another approximately 10,000 East Timorese refugee families would also receive assistance once they owned land.

"The government has made the funds and materials available, while TNI [Indonesian Armed Forces] members from 161 Wirasakti Command in Kupang will undertake the construction," Salem was quoted as saying.

Salem reportedly said that, in the next three months, the government would also provide 4,500 families with Rp4m each to assist the reintegration process.

"In addition to the East Timorese refugees, the local community which has fallen victim to this social disaster will receive the same funding, with 55 per cent for local residents and 45 per cent for East Timorese refugees," Salem was quoted as saying.

According to the item, there were approximately 100,000 East Timorese refugees living in Internally Displaced Persons Camps in the districts of Belu, North Central Timor and Kupang.

Source: Koran Tempo website, Jakarta, in Indonesian 26 Oct 06