Gunung Sitoli, Indonesia-Relief -- A Shelter Working Group Meeting held last week at Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR)'s office in Nias finalized standardization codes for timber for housing reconstruction in Nias. The agreement was achieved after several meetings, organized by the BRR Nias office.
The regulation of timber standards was part of an NGO agreement which in cooperation with UNHCR which has agreed to provide timber for no cost. UNHCR will import legal timber from several countries including Mexico and South America, BRR said in a statement on Tuesday.
Head of BRR Nias office William Sabandar said around 50,000 m3 timber will be requried for reconstruction of houses in the project.
''This agreement on the timber standard is good. We hope that UNHCR can realize the legal timber import from overseas so housing reconstruction can begin immediately. If everything goes well, we hope by December 2005 many IDPs will have returned to their own houses,'' William said in response to the agreement.
William stressed the importance of not using illegal timber in reconstruction. ''Timber supplies in Nias are insufficient to fulfill the demands of reconstruction in Nias. Any attempt to rely on Nias timber would cause great environmental damage to the area,'' said William.© dro