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.

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.

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