ADB loan for RI project

ADB loan for RI project

MANILA (Reuter): The Asian Development Bank said yesterday it has approved a US$27.7 million loan to strengthen the development and management of Indonesia's water resources.

"The main objective of the project is to enhance...economic management and use of water resources," the Manila-based Bank said in a statement. "Existing policies and water management capacities are inadequate to ensure sustainable, economic allocation and use of water," it added.

The project includes the creation of a national framework to coordinate policy and planning in the water resources sector. The project will be completed by the end of 1999.

The loan will come from the bank's ordinary capital resources and will be repaid over a period of 25 years, including a grace period of five years.

Interest will be determined using the bank's pool-based variable lending rate system for U.S. dollar loans, which currently stands at 6.68 percent a year.

The bank had also approved its first loan to Kazakhstan, offering $60 million to help the former communist state in its transition to a market-based economy.