JAKARTA, Jan 17 (AFP) - Rebuilding the Indonesian province of Aceh after the devastation wrought by last month's tsunami will cost 4.0 billion dollars over five years, a senior minister said Monday.
Economics Minister Aburizal Bakrie's forecast of 36 trillion rupiah was more than a third larger than initial estimates in the wake of the disaster that killed almost 115,000 Indonesians.
Infrastructure projects across the whole country that were not related to the quake would require up to 150 billion dollars over five years, Bakrie told reporters at an Indonesian infrastructure summit in Jakarta.
"Over the next five years, Indonesia needs 145 to 150 billion dollars or 1,330 trillion rupiah for infrastructure projects. Plus, reconstruction of infrastructure in Aceh may cost four billion dollars," Bakrie said.
He said the government would use the Aceh reconstruction cost estimates to decide whether it would accept a debt moratorium offer from the Paris Club of creditor nations.
The Paris Club last week agreed to offer a debt moratorium to Jakarta pending a study by the World Bank and the IMF on the reconstruction costs following the tsunami disaster.
01/17/2005 03:22 GMT - AFP