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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Orissa seeks year’s extension of Western Orissa Rural Livelihood Project (WORLEP)

Express News Service
25 Feb 2010 ,Bhubaneswar

The State Government today requested the Centre and the Department for International Development (DFID) to extend the tenure of Western Orissa Rural Livelihood Project (WORLEP) by another year in view of the delay in expenditure of funds.
A part of the Orissa State Poverty Mitigation Mission, WORLEP - a DFID funded programme - aims at reducing poverty by promoting livelihood initiatives in the four western Orissa districts of Bargarh, Balangir, Kalahandi and Nuapada where health indicators are poor and there is shortage of safe drinking water. Besides, the four districts are drought prone.

A state government initiative, WORLEP is managed by Orissa Watershed Development Mission, with financial assistance from DFID. Although the overseas agency has sanctioned Rs 230 crore for the project, the Government has so far utilised Rs 194 crore.

Chief Secretary TK Mishra today reviewed the progress of all the externally aided projects at a highlevel meeting here attended by representatives of World Bank, DFID, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The other livelihood and infrastructure development projects funded by DFID are the Rs 446 crore Orissa Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Project (OTELP) and Rs 400 crore Orissa Health Sector Development Project.
The Government has utilised Rs 138 crore in OTELP and Rs 52 crore in the health sector development.

The major projects funded by the World Bank include Rs 1431 crore Orissa State Road Project, Rs 546 crore Orissa Community Tank Management project, Rs 315 crore Targeted Rural Initiative for Poverty Termination and Infrastructure (TRIPTI) and Rs 39 crore National Hydrology project.

The Japanese agency is providing assistance to the Orissa Forestry Sector Development project, Rengali Irrigation Left Bank canal project, Orissa Integrated Irrigation and Water Management project and Orissa Integrated Sanitation project.
A 17 members delegation of the four external agencies attended the review meeting along with 13 officials of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The representatives of the overseas agencies expressed their satisfaction over the progress of progress of the infrastructure and livelihood projects.

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