MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
I am pleased to announce that Australia is to spend $4 million providing
clean water to an additional 20 000 people in East Timor.
This funding will allow an 18 month extension to the ongoing East Timor water
supply and sanitation project.
The provision of clean water and sanitation facilities is a key to improving
standards of living and health. When the project concludes in March 1999 it will
have benefited 110 000 people, around 13% of East Timor's population.
The project promotes an innovative community-managed approach. Many of the
project facilities are managed by local villagers. They decide what type of
water supply system they want and where it should be located. They provide
materials and labour to construct the systems.
Villagers are then trained to operate and maintain the systems after the
project is completed. The Australian Agency for International Development,
AusAID, supports this approach as it encourages a sense of ownership and
enhances the project's sustainability.
The Australian aid program to Indonesia continues to place a strong emphasis
on the reduction of poverty. Australia will provide $5 million in aid to East
Timor in 1997/98. This is ten times more per capita than the rest of
Indonesia.
Media contacts: David Alexander (Mr Thomson's Office) (02)
6277 4665 Mobile (0412) 146 181 Mark Giffard (AusAID) (02) 6206
4966