ADB finances project in Bengkulu

ADB finances project in Bengkulu

BENGKULU: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided between US$5 million and US$6 million for a food, health and nutrition project in Bengkulu province along with a complementary budget from the government in its support, a project executive has said.

The food, health and nutrition project, which initially ran from Sept. 1997 to Sept. 2002 and covered 150 villages in Bengkulu, has been extended until Sept. 2003 based on various considerations, said Wahyu Sudarsono, chief of the project secretariat in Bengkulu Tuesday.

Each village received Rp 20 million in aid to encourage the development of productive activities, through which it could obtain benefits to be used to finance medical and health services, he said.

"We evaluate the project every six months to track its development," he explained, adding that the project model to empower the local people is expected to become a blueprint for similar projects in other provinces. -- Antara