U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick signed an agreement on Sunday to build a $245 million road along Aceh's western coast, one of the first of many huge projects to rebuild the Indonesian province after the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami, Reuters reported. The 240-km (150-mile) highway will connect Aceh's provincial capital, Banda Aceh, with the city of Meulaboh, which was almost wiped out by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the biggest tsunami ever recorded. "Our aid mission can offer patterns for private sector projects," Zoellick told foreign journalists under the shadow of a giant coal barge and a freight ship that were swept onto this beach from kilometres out to sea. "We're talking under a big coal barge that was thrust onto the beach, so it's not your usual project," he said, adding the construction will also feature 113 bridges and culvert crossings. Almost 230,000 people are feared dead and a half-million are homeless in Indonesia as a result of the disaster, which Jakarta estimates caused 43.7 trillion rupiah ($4.7 billion) in economic losses. The international community has pledged an estimated $9 billion for tsunami relief and reconstruction for the affected Indian Ocean nations, the bulk of that destined for Aceh. --More 1454 Local Time 1154 GMT
