Big cash boost for ‘villages&’

PHUKET TOWN: The central government will probably increase its loans to “villages” to three million or five million baht soon, a local government official said today. A million baht has already been distributed to each of 114 “villages” on Phuket, fulfilling an election promise made by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Revealing the details today, Suthep Wuthisak of Phuket Provincial Development Office said that every “village” (including Phuket Town and Patong) had found the money useful. A total of 15,387 people had applied for loans, with 6,387 successful so far. Loans totalled 90,968,600 baht, with 23,031,400 baht still in hand, K. Suthep said. Some villages had not understood the criteria and had asked for more funds, to be paid back over two years rather than the current one year. “The central government plans to increase the amounts of the loans soon,” K. Suthep said. “Small villages will be granted three million baht and big villages 5 million baht. We expect even more villages will apply then.”