Department of the Interior BIKINI RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM RELEASED A further step toward the return of the Bikini people was taken when the President transmitted a budget request of $1,700,000 for fiscal year 1970 for the cleanup of the atoll, the construction of housing and a village center for the first returnees, and the initiation of a replanting program designed to make the main islands .of Bikini and Enyu once again productive. The High Commissioner of the Trust Territories has been re- quested to move forward as rapidly as possible with the resettlement work," Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said. Secretary Udall has released a resettlement program prepared by the High Commissioner of the Trust Territory with the assistance of personnel from the Atomic Energy Commission, Department and the Department of the Interior. the Defense The resettlement program is the direct result of a survey trip made to Bikini in late August following the President's announcement that the Bikini people could be returned. The survey trip was designed to develop basic information for planning a resettlement program. The over-all resettlement of the Bikini people is planned to be phased over a six-year period, at an estimated cost of $3,000,000. The first step, and the largest single cost element, is the clearing of the atoll of test-related debris and the clear- ing of scrub vegetation to permit replanting of coconuts and cther food and commercial crops. Six months are estimated for the cleen- up phase at a cost of approximately $1,200,000.