FOUR towns in Negros Occidental have benefitted from poverty alleviation projects of the Social Welfare agency under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS) program.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Western Visayas Director Minda Brigoli said the municipalities of Cauayan, Don Salvador Benedicto, Hinoba-an and Moises Padilla have availed of P83 million worth of projects from 2006 to 2009 implemented under the Kalahi-CIDSS program.
Brigoli, who was in Bacolod Wednesday, said the Kalahi-CIDSS projects included 45 infrastructure projects such as roads, health stations, community economic and service facilities, day care centers, water systems, environmental protection and preservation programs and foot bridges.
Of the P83 million, P52 million was a grant of the World Bank, while the P31 million was the local counterpart contribution of the four municipalities, she added.
After the DSWD finished its Kalahi-CIDSS project implementation in these towns, it will implement of the same projects in La Castellana and Toboso towns as part of the Kalahi-CIDSS additional financing.
The two towns were also identified as priority beneficiaries based on their poverty incidence level, she said.
In La Castellana, Mayor Alberto Nicor Jr. has deposited P800,000 in a trust fund which represents half of the P1.6 million local counterpart contribution for the program.
The World Bank grant for La Castellana is P5.59 million or P430,000 each for 13 identified beneficiary barangays.
Brigoli lauded the successful implementation of the Kalahi-CIDSS projects in Negros Occidental which, she said, had reduced poverty, improved governance and empowered communities in remote barangays in the province. (TED)