ADB okays $45m loan for RI health program

ADB okays $45m loan for RI health program

MANILA (Reuter): The Asian Development Bank said yesterday its board had approved a US$45 million loan to partly finance a health and nutrition program in Indonesia.

The Family Health and Nutrition Project, which will be handled by Indonesia's Ministry of Health, aims to help more than 122,000 families in remote villages in the country's five underdeveloped provinces.

"Under the project, beneficiary families, with the support of their community and local health providers, will be trained to identify their health and nutritional problems and choose appropriate solutions," the bank said in a statement.

The loan is payable over 25 years, including a five-year grace period. Interest rate will be computed with the banks variable lending rate for U.S. dollar loans.

The bank said it had also approved a $150 million loan to finance an 89-km (55 miles) toll expressway in Sichuan province in China.

The expressway project will ease traffic movement of freight and passengers between several port cities in the province and inland municipalities.

"By relieving traffic congestion, linking economic growth areas with consumer centers, and fostering trade and regional integration, the project will promote economic growth in a relatively less affluent inland area," the multilateral financing institution said in a statement.

The loan is to be drawn from the bank's ordinary capital resources, which are payable over 25 years, including a five-year grace period.

The interest rate will be determined in accordance with the bank's pool-based variable rate for U.S. dollar loans, which is currently 6.82 percent.