Contract for US-funded Banda Aceh-Calang road to be signed in May

Banda Aceh (ANTARA News) - The contract for the construction of Banda Aceh-Calang road section which is to be financed by the United States is expected to be signed next month, a regional government official said here on Saturday.

"The contract for the construction of the road is expected to be signed by the government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in May," Assistant II to the Aceh Regional Government Secretary, Usman Budiman, said when opening a workshop on the Aceh Recovery Forum.

He said that the land clearance was now in progress and was expected to be completed late this month or early in May.

The United States government through the USAID will rebuild the 150-km long Banda Aceh-Calang (Aceh Jaya district) road which was damaged by the tsunami which hit the province in December 2004.

Head of the Nias-Aceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR), Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said 54 percent of the land clearance had been finished.

"We are still facing a problem with the land clearance in Aceh Besar district, while in Aceh Jaya, the land clearance is almost finished," he added.

He said that the United States for International Development had repeatedly asked about the land clearance problem.