The United Nations and the International Organization of Migrant (IOM) promised Friday to build more than 12,000 semi-permanent houses in Aceh Province, Indonesia, to shelter displaced people.

At least 1,000 house units will be built by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Krueng Sabe village, some 8 kilometers south of Calang districts, and some 11,000 house units by IOM. The specific locations for house units are still under investigation, officials noted.

The purpose of UNHCR to build houses in places, where displaced people used to live, is to help these people to join their former communities, said Astrid van Genderen Stort, an official of the UNHCR.

"It would be a good way for these people stay permanently," she said in a joint press briefing.

Astrid said that UNHCR, the Indonesian government and local communities would make a joint decision who would get priority to live in the newly-built houses.

"If the scheme is successful, 1,000 families will be able to live in the new houses. We will build more houses for displaced people," she said.
IOM official Simona Opitz said that 40 houses would be built in mid-February, 1,000 in April, and the rest in the near future.

"At present, IOM shelters experts are finding other suitable places," she said.
 
(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2005)