K

upang: The South Timor Tengah (TTS) regency administration in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) would rather build a regency office valued at Rp 33 billion than pay attention to the fate of tens of thousands of its people who have been hit by serious food shortages in 150 villages in 32 districts, it has been claimed.

A member of the TTS legislative council, Arifin Betty, said in Soe on Tuesday that his council would summon TTS Regent Paul Mella to explain about the office construction plan and also about ways to resolve the food scarcity problem.

“A regent has to have a sense of priority and judge whether constructing a luxury building at a time when 40 percent of the population is being hit by famine is still acceptable. The construction plan should have been postponed even if it has been a long time in preparation,” Arifin said.

He hoped that the administration would spend parts of reserve funds allocated for various sectors to resolve the famine problem in the area and postpone the office construction plan.

According to Arifin, tens of thousands of people in the regency are in a poor condition as they have been forced to depend heavily on tamarind kernels as food to replace rice and corn.

Meanwhile, TTS regency official Mesrain Fallo said that the construction of the Rp 33 billion building would be completed in three years. “A tender process will be conducted next October,” he said.