ADB approves 2 loans worth US$115m to RI

ADB approves 2 loans worth US$115m to RI

MANILA (DPA): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Friday it has approved two loans worth US$115 million to fund a rural development project in Indonesia that would benefit more than one million people.

The Manila-based ADB said it will also provide a 1.1 million dollar technical assistance grant to promote good government and sound fiscal management practices in the project areas to ensure transparency and accountability.

The loans, consisting of $50 million from the bank's concessional fund and $65 million from its ordinary fund, will be used to form and train 750 community-based savings and loan organizations to make credit accessible for small businesses.

The project, which will focus on six provinces in the less- developed outer islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi, will also develop various infrastructure to "link villages to markets in the urban centers".

"The project will prepare communities for the impending decentralization and provide hands-on training through activities such as constructing small civil works," said Antonio Perez, ADB mission leader for the project.

The ADB said the project will generate about 185,000 jobs and increase income for 425,000 people, most of whom live below the poverty line.

Some 4,500 community leaders will be trained to support the decentralization process, while 1,770 government workers will receive formal training for diploma, bachelors and post-graduate degrees, locally and abroad.

The bank said women will make up at least half of the participants in community and micro-enterprise training.