Jakarta, Indonesia-Relief -- The
International Organization for Migration (IOM) will build hundreds of transitional
homes for Acehnese civil servants under a deal finalized yesterday with
the government of Queensland, Australia.
In a statement, IOM said that IOM's
head of mission in Indonesia, Steve Cook, joined State Premier, Hon. Peter
Beattie, in Brisbane to announce that keys to the first 14 units of civil
servant housing funded by a US $2.2 million contribution by the Queensland
government, will be handed over to their new owners on 26 July in Banda
Aceh.
''I talked to Mr. Cook in Indonesia while I was leading a trade mission in April and discussed the best way that the Queensland government's funds could be spent,'' Mr. Beattie said.
''We agreed that it was essential to restore government services to the area to help with reconstruction and rehabilitation work, and that in order for this to happen, the civil servants would need to be housed. The Queensland government's contribution is paying for about 770 of these homes - a project which has been approved by the Federal Government.'' =A9 che