A ceremony for the handover of 60 sets of prefabricated houses donated by the Chinese government to the Indonesian government was held in Jakarta on Thursday.

 

On behalf of the Chinese government, Chinese ambassador to Indonesia Lan lijun said, the project is one of the largest assistance implemented by the Chinese government after the catastrophe caused by the tsunami, to which the Chinese government has paid great attention.

 

Lan said he hoped that people in Aceh, which was hardest hit by the tsunami in the country, can live better with the facilities donated by the Chinese government and will build their hometown more prosperous tomorrow.

 

The chairman of Indonesia's Bureau of Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (BRR), Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, thanked the Chinese government for the aid.

 

"China is one of the first nations in the world to give hand to the people of Aceh," Kuntoro said. "I can say very proudly that all children in Aceh can receive their education on time with your donations."

 

Among the 60 sets of completed houses with a total cost of US$7.5 million, 34 are for schools, 17 for kindergartens and nine for offices. The agency that undertook the construction of the project overcame such difficulties as scattered allocations and inconvenient transportation and took only one year from December 12, 2005 to December 12, 2006 to complete all the construction work.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2006)