National

199 Regencies in Indonesia Are Left Behind
Tuesday, 02 August, 2005 | 09:02 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Around 199 regencies in Indonesia are still considered left behind.

According to the State Minister for Acceleration of Development in Backward Regions, Syaifullah Yusuf, 123 regencies are in the Eastern Indonesia region, 58 regencies on Sumatra and 18 regencies on Java.

Yusuf went on to say that one of the reasons why these areas are left behind is because of natural disasters.

“Twelve regencies were classified as being left behind before the tsunami disaster in Aceh. However, this number has increase to 16 regencies following the disaster,” the minister stated in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) on Monday (01/08).

The State Ministry for the Acceleration of Development in Backward Regions, said Syaifullah Yusuf, would provide Rp5 billion in funds to each regency in 2006.
These funds will come from the World Bank.

Caretaker Aceh Governor Azwar Abubakar said he hoped that the commitment to disburse funds would be quickly put into realization.

“Many people in Aceh have long required funds for their daily needs. So, do not take too long in the disbursement of these funds,” said Abubakar.
(Yudha Setiawan-Tempo News Room)