| World
Bank, GEF Commit $138 Million For China's Pearl River
Friday,
June 11, 2004
The World Bank and Global Environment
Facility this week agreed to provide China with a
loan of $128 million and grant of $10 million, respectively,
in the first of a planned series of interventions
to "arrest the environmental deterioration"
in the Pearl River delta and South China Sea.
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Guangdong province, where the
Pearl River delta is located, has experienced high
economic growth for more than a decade, but at a heavy
cost to the environment, the bank said. Water quality
in many parts of the Pearl River and its tributaries,
particularly around Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan and
Dongguan, is worse than Class V standard, which makes
the river system unsuitable for irrigation, aquaculture
and potential recreational uses. It also contributes
to serious pollution of the South China Sea and the
waters around Hong Kong and Macau.
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The
loan would finance improvements in the waste water treatment
and collection systems in Guangzhou city and the construction
and operation of a hazardous waste treatment and disposal
facility for the Guangzhou metropolitan area and support project
implementation, technical assistance and capacity building
for new autonomous municipal companies created in Guangzhou
to operate and maintain the environmental facilities funded
by the project.
The grant would strengthen the water-quality monitoring program
in the delta, and develop a framework and pilot the implementation
of better cooperation among local governments in the planning,
building and operating of shared environmental facilities.
It would also help introduce the private sector into new areas
of urban environmental services like hazardous waste management
(World Bank release, June 9).
Published in UN Wire - Copyright, National Journal Group,
Year 2004 | |
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