WB Loans to Protect Beijing EnvironmentThe World Bank's Board of Executive Directors Wednesday approved an environment loan of 349 million U.S. dollars to China that will bring enormous health benefits to all residents in urban Beijing by providing air pollution control and wastewater disposal.A release from the World Bank's Resident Mission in China said the loan is also partially supplemented by a 25 million U.S. dollars equivalent grant from the Global Environment Facility. The "second Beijing environment project" will add to the local municipal government's efforts to alleviate air and water pollution in Beijing by converting coal-fire boilers to natural gas boilers, promote energy conservation heating systems, provide wastewater collection and treatment to the entire Liangshi River basin, and strengthen environmental management in Beijing. "This project is designed to support one of the most significant programs of urban environmental improvement in the world," said Principal Urban Economist Songsu Choi, the project manager. "Beijing's new environmental improvement program and the project will attempt turn around environmental deterioration." If successful, the project will transform Beijing's air and water quality from barely acceptable levels for industrial zones to levels that comply with World Health Organization's guidelines. The overall project costs 1.255 billion U.S. dollars and will be financed with 343 million U.S. dollars from the central and municipal governments. The World Bank loan has a maturity of 20 years, including a five-year grace period. |
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