National

Nias Needs 13,000 New Houses by Next Year
Wednesday, 07 December, 2005 | 00:47 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Board (BRR) of Aceh-Nias believes that next year, Nias will need 13,000 new houses from a total of 32,000 houses overall. This figure is beyond the 50,000 houses that will be rehabilitated.

“Now, there will be 200 houses built. Until April next year, we hope to build 1,000 houses,” said William Sabandar, the BRR head representative in Nias, to reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday (06/12).

The BRR has planned to build 8,000 out of 13,000 houses required. The rest, Sabandar said, were expected to be completed through the support of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donor countries. Sabandar said that each house will require Rp30.5 million. “The total funding required totals Rp1.1 trillion to build new houses in Nias,” stated Sabandar.

Next year, 19 projects will be prepared to rebuild Nias, including construction of houses. The projects include the development of infrastructure, education and health facilities and the improvement of the economy.

Several donor countries and institutions that will consign aid for the development of Nias reconstruction include the World Bank and the Chinese and Japanese government. The Chinese government gave additional aid worth US$1.5-million through the Reconstruction of Aceh-Nias Trust Fund (RANTF). (Ami Afriatni-Tempo News Room)