World Bank loans to curb water pollution ( 2003-11-25 16:22) (China Daily HK Edition)
The World Bank will grant Guangdong Province loans worth US$1 billion for
curbing water pollution in the Pearl River during the next eight years.
This was revealed by Zeng Yuchang, deputy director of the World Bank Office
in Guangdong Province, at a conference on environmental protection in Guangdong
Province on Thursday.
The large sum of money will mainly go towards the construction of sewage
treatment plants and solid rubbish disposal facilities in major Pearl River
Delta cities, Zeng said.
"The World Bank loans will not only help Guangdong curb the worsening water
pollution in the Pearl River, but also provide myriad investment opportunities
to both domestic and overseas companies in the environment-protection industry,"
Zeng said.
Guangdong will import equipment, products and technologies in the
environment-protection sector in the next few months, Zeng said, urging
companies from home and abroad to participate in the effort.
Of the World Bank loans, US$200 million will be spent in Guangzhou and US$250
million in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, Zeng said.
Guangzhou will construct more than 300 kilometres of underground sewage
pipelines, a sewage treatment plant and solid rubbish disposal centre.
The sewage treat plant will treat more than 200,000 tons of sewage a day
while the solid rubbish disposal centre will reach a daily capacity of 150,000
cubic meters.
Shenzhen will use the loans to clean the city's drinking water, improve water
quality of the river sections in the city and build treatment facilities along
the river banks.
The rest of the loans will mainly go to Foshan, Dongguan and other cities in
the delta, Zeng added.
