OREANDA-NEWS. May 20, 2010. Prime Minister Vlad Filat chaired a meeting of the National Council of the Social Investment Fund (FISM). The participants in the event approved a mechanism of money distribution through FISM II

On 22 February 2010, the Moldovan government and the World Bank signed an Agreement on Additional Financing Loan II, managed by the Social Investments Fund II. The loan worth 20 million dollars is given for 20 years, a ten-year grace period and a 0.75-per cent interest.

A report unveiled at the meeting shows that the credit's goal is to implement the National Development Strategy and contribute to the creation of new jobs and  increase in salary revenues in communities. The beneficiaries will be poor rural settlements and the towns with less than 20,000 inhabitants. It is estimated that over 10,000 temporary jobs will be created while implementing this project.

The settlements which have earlier implemented sub-projects with FISM support will receive 16 million dollars, the villages with no experience of cooperation with FISM will benefit from 3 million dollars. The maximum sum given to a sub-project for villages is 100,000 dollars, and for small towns - up to 200,000 dollars. The settlement's contribution should account for about 15 per cent of the project's cost. Eligible projects should focus on schools and kindergartens, community centres, family doctors' offices, aqueducts, gas pipelines, environmental projects. As many as 157 sub-projects are expected to be implemented in villages and 36 sub-projects in small towns.

Prime Minister Vlad Filat said that, before, the settlements which benefited from money to implement projects used to be proposed by the government, but now the district councils will be in charge of this. Also, the financial resources will be distributed to all the districts proportionally.

Vlad Filat said that, within FISM II, the settlements from the left bank of Dniestre will benefit from 1 million dollars. He asked Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Victor Osipov to involve in the identification of projects.

The premier said that the basic principle of the selected projects will be sustainability, continuity and social impact. The prime minister said that it is important to finance projects aiming at creating conditions for children's development. "I ask that the earmarked financial resources are managed fairly, efficiently and with the highest responsibility," Vlad Filat said.

FISM was created with the support of the World Bank and donor countries to contribute to the implementation of the National Development Strategy through local-level projects. So far, FIMS has earmarked financial resources worth 70.7 million dollars. As many as 820 urban and rural settlements benefited from this money and implemented 1,200 local projects.