Bali's poor get US$1.26m in aid

DENPASAR, Bali: A poverty-alleviation aid package of Rp 3 billion (US$1.26 million) was approved for the northern shore of Bali, the Buleleng regent said yesterday.

Ketut Wirata Sindhu told Antara the funds would be awarded to recipients of the Presidential Instructions on backward villages program (IDT) as well as those not under the program.

Ketut said the funds would be channeled to 606 communities, 206 of which belong to the IDT program, the remaining 400 do not.

He said funding for the first group was estimated at Rp 1.75 billion ($734,400), Rp 1.48 billion ($621,000) was derived from the poverty-alleviation program budget and the remaining Rp 270 million ($113,300) from the provincial budget. He did not elaborate on where the remainder of the Rp 3 billion came from.

The Buleleng regency is one of eight regencies in Bali, comprising 19 subdistricts and 163 villages with a population of 546,679 (122,770 families) over a land mass of 136,588 square kilometers (546,352 square miles). (01)