COUNCIL OF MINISTERS APPROVES TWO MORE KEY REGULATIONS

East Timor’s Council of Ministers today approved two key regulations creating a Public Broadcasting Corporation and establishing a legal framework for the territory’s public transport system.

The Council described both regulations as “important for the future of an independent East Timor.”

The Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) will be independent and include national television and radio stations that will replace the networks currently run by UNTAET. The PBC aims to provide innovative, high-quality broadcasting that will include impartial and balanced newscasts, as well as cultural and educational programming.

This regulation has important financial implications, the Council noted, adding that means for funding the PBC must still be found.

The regulation on the framework for the Public Transport System creates a set of rules for the functioning of public transport and the movement of goods and passengers.

The Council will now recommend the regulations be considered and approved by UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello.

The Council today also reviewed and adopted a Land Acquisition and Resettlement Policy Framework in the context of grant agreements between the East Timor Transitional Government and the World Bank, and another document on the respective guidelines for its implementation.

The major goal of this new policy is to guarantee that the affected displaced people maintain their livelihood.

The Council also approved the planning of meetings of Budget Sub-committee for the Council of Ministers. This sub-committee will be responsible for making detailed considerations and recommendations on all ministries’ proposed appropriations.

CLEAN-UP CAMPAIGN GATHERS PACE IN EAST TIMOR’S CAPITAL

East Timorese are catching on to a Clean-Up Campaign that has already swept roughly half of Dili’s waterfront and many of its neighbourhoods as the capital prepares to take the international spotlight during May independence celebrations, coordinators said today.

The public campaign – launched 8 March by UN Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello, Chief Minister Marí Alkatiri, Dili Bishop Filipe Ximenes Belo and Dili District Administrator Ruben Bráz de Carvalho – aims to create a more attractive capital for visiting foreign dignitaries and international media, as well as a more hygienic environment for residents.

East Timor is gearing up for national celebrations for its 20 May independence after hundreds of years of foreign rule. Festivities will climax at a 19 May ceremony in Dili that will include religious, cultural and musical events. At the stroke of midnight, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will hand over power from the current UN transitional administration, a moment that will be symbolised by the lowering of the UN flag and the raising of East Timor’s new national flag.

As senior UNTAET and East Timorese officials wielded brooms and swept a section of the waterfront on the Clean-Up Campaign’s opening day, it quickly became clear that many local residents had never participated in a public clean-up effort, Dili District officials said.

An information effort has since been launched to teach people how to identify rubbish, collect it and properly dispose of it in waste bunkers and bins being constructed around the capital. Clean-Up information pamphlets are being distributed and public service announcements are being regularly broadcast over UNTAET-run national television and radio.

Additionally, the waterfront and beaches in the western half of the capital have been picked clean of trash by volunteers. Vendors working out of unauthorised road-side market stalls are also being moved to permanent markets around the capital.

Contests for the titles of Tidiest Neighbourhood in Dili and Tidiest School in Dili will be held in mid-April.

The campaign has shown so much promise that it has been expanded to include a post-independence clean-up of the various celebration sites around the city. The capital also now plans to actively participate in International Clean-Up Day later in the year.