Ministry boss gives progress the thumbs-up

PHUKET TOWN: A senior government official today gave Phuket his seal of approval for its progress in implementing projects funded by the central government. Khun Anand Tejavanija, Deputy Director-General of the Community Development Department of the Ministry of the Interior explained that he was visiting Phuket to check on progress in using the 2.15 million baht allocated by Bangkok for community development work in the province. “I’m happy to say that officials under the control of the Governor of Phuket have completed the setting up of all projects. Spending of the budget has been to the prescribed plan.” Projects include such community development activities as providing milk and lunch for schoolchildren, staging environmental education seminars for local leaders and raising awareness of the dangers of narcotics. Meanwhile, the Community Development Department has set up a fund from which poor people may receive interest-free loans to set up small businesses. The department has identified 136 families as having incomes low enough to make them eligible for loans from the fund, which was set up with 580,000 baht provided by the Miyazawa Plan. The new fund will be administered by the village committees.