Jakarta – The government will allocate Rp 11.7 trillion to build and repair infrastructure across the country in 2004.

"The budget will mainly be used to repair damaged infrastructure, build new infrastructure and meet public demand for housing," Minister for Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarnosaid.

He said 55 percent of the budget allocation for infrastructure would go to western parts of the country and 45 percent to the eastern part. New infrastructure will include roads, bridges and irrigation networks to be built almost in all parts of the country, he said.

The use of the budget allocation for Eastern Indonesia would give priority to the construction of new infrastructure, while for Western Indonesia will focus on repairing old infrastructure, he said.

He said the construction of a trans-Papua highway would give priority to the construction of roads linking one district capital to another in the province. The construction of a 200-km road linking Jayapura and Wamena and a road leading to Puncak Jaya will top the list of priorities, he said.