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