Manila, June 28, 2006 AEST (ABN Newswire) - An Asian Development Bank (ASX: ATB) US$80 million loan will help improve the urban environment and public health of about 3.9 million people in Shandong province in the People's Republic of China (PRC) by reducing pollution in the Hai River Basin.
The Hai River Basin is one of the PRC's most important industrial regions and home to about 117 million people. Due to fast economic growth, overexploitation of water resources, and lack of adequate waste treatment facilities, the basin faces a severe water crisis.
More than 80% of its water is polluted, and the basin has been identified as one of three in the PRC with the highest priority for improving water quality.
The project, one of several under the national Hai River Basin Pollution Prevention and Control Plan, will employ an integrated approach. To reduce pollutants discharged into the basin, the project includes four wastewater treatment subprojects and three solid waste management subprojects. With paper and pulp production, which produces water contaminants, being a major local industry, the project also includes two paper mill waste recovery subprojects.
The project will also help make the utilities generally more efficient and sustainable. Overall, the project includes a total of nine subprojects to be carried out in secondary cities and counties in four municipalities: Binzhou, Dezhou, Jinan, and Liaocheng.
"By improving environmental and sanitary conditions in the project areas, the project is expected to reduce the incidence of water- and vector-borne diseases, and improve living conditions," says Lyaziza Sabyrova, an ADB Senior Country Economist.
Since 1993, ADB has provided 14 loans totaling $1.4 billion for urban environment, pollution control, and urban water and wastewater management in the PRC, including two loans for Hebei Province and Tianjin municipality, as well as $30 million in related technical assistance grants.
ADB's loan will cover about half of the total project cost, and the local finance bureaus and implementing agencies will cover the balance. ADB's loan, which comes from its ordinary capital resources, carries a 25-year term, including a grace period of 5 years. Interest will be determined in accordance with ADB's LIBOR-based lending facility.
The Shandong Provincial Government is the executing agency for the project, which is due for completion around December 2011.
Contact
Tsukasa Maekawa
Email: tmaekawa@adb.org
Tel:+632 632 5875; Mobile: +63917 625 1351
Graham Dwyer
Email: gdwyer@adb.org
Tel:+632 632 5253; +632 898 3413; +63 915 741 4363
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