Australia to Fund New Aceh Reconstruction Work

Australia to Fund New Aceh Reconstruction Work

Australian and Indonesian Ministers today announced the allocation of $88 million for new reconstruction projects in Indonesia as part of the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD), the largest single aid package in Australia's history.

Over $280 million has now been committed to projects since the $1 billion AIPRD was announced eight months ago.

The new commitments provide further support to Aceh where the international reconstruction effort is now gathering pace.

Today's announcement expands Australia's contribution to physical reconstruction work in Aceh at a critical time.

This will help to rebuild and repair more schools and health facilities and community infrastructure.

When the tsunami struck on 26 December, 150,000 children were left without schools, more than 500,000 people lost their homes and large numbers of hospital and medical staff died. More than 240,000 parcels of land are without evidence of legal title.

Australian assistance under the AIPRD is directly addressing such needs:

• helping to train more than 1500 nurses, midwives and health administrators

• delivering over 80 tonnes of school equipment to 46 schools

• helping 66 communities to rebuild village halls and community offices that serve as the hub for local reconstruction efforts

• deploying community mapping teams who have so far mapped 1500 land parcels for housing reconstruction

• providing design and engineering supervision for 42 separate construction projects.

Other areas of Indonesia will also benefit from today's announcement, with $25 million being allocated to a Smallholder Agribusiness Development Initiative to promote efficient production in areas such as horticulture, livestock and aquaculture.

Under this program we will improve access to technology for rural enterprises, help to improve business practices and address critical constraints such as market access, finance and infrastructure gaps. This will help to improve living standards and reduce poverty in rural areas throughout Indonesia where more than 135 million people live.

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