US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick signed an agreement yesterday 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.

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 160,000 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.

?There?s been a problem in the past with corruption in Indonesia,? Zoellick said. ?The world?s eyes are on Indonesia in the expenditure of funds. So far they have been extremely careful.?

He especially praised the recent appointment of Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, a Stanford University-trained engineer and a former mines and energy minister, as the powerful new chairman of the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency in Aceh.

Zoellick said the primary objective of the road is to make a significant contribution to improving employment and the local economy. Tenders for the road project have already gone out and construction is ready to begin soon after the US Congress appropriates the money, which is expected as soon as this month, aid officials said.

The road project follows one of the biggest humanitarian relief operations in history, in which military contingents from several countries worked hand-in-hand with international relief agencies to provide life-saving assistance to tens of thousands of survivors stranded in cut-off coastal communities. Helicopters from the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group alone flew 2,800 relief missions and delivered 4,000 tonnes of supplies to people in Aceh. Zoellick said a simmering, three-decade old rebellion in Aceh had not interfered with aid operations and said peace talks in Finland with rebel leaders were ?a sign of hope? after the tragedy.

He said he offered Jakarta US support once the peace process is established, adding that Washington has head experience in programmes that reintegrate rebels back into the community. ?If we can help in that sense, we?re open to that possibility.?