AUSTRALIA PROVIDES RP441 BILLION UNDER EINRIP PROGRAM

Mataram W Nusa Tenggara, Feb 23 (ANTARA) - The Australian government has allocated Rp441 billion for four packages of road construction in Sumbawa island, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), through the Eastern Indonesian National Road Improvement Program (EINRIP), a spokesman said.

"The funds which reach hundreds of billions of rupiah will be used to construct four road sections with a total length of 71 km," B. Gawan Soesetyo, a local official in charge of concluding a commitment for road construction in Sumbawa said here on Sunday.
He said that the EINRIP program was a form of support of the Australian government for the infrastructure development in Eastern Indonesia where NTB obtained Rp441 billion.
The Australian assistance is a soft loan which carries a grace period of 10 years.
"Based on the schedule, the contracts for the work of the four road sections should have been concluded in the middle of 2009 and three months after which physical construction should have been started," he said.
"I will fly to Jakarta next week to finish the tender process for a road section in Sumbawa Besar, namely a bypass road, in the Sumbawa district," he said.
In the meantime the tender for the construction of three other road sections is now under a process, he said.