World Bank offers $1 billion to clean Ganga

NEW DELHI: With an aim to cleanse Ganga river, World Bank has offered US $1 billion loan for the purpose, Union minister Jairam Ramesh said on Monday.

"World Bank has been engaged for a long-term support of National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA), a body headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for cleaning up the river in a much more systematic manner," Ramesh told media in the capital.

We are in the process of clinching a five to seven years loans in very attractive terms. The preliminary indicatives are very positive and discussions with the Bank officials are being proceeded very rapidly, the Union environment minister added.

He said, the final decision in this regard is expected to be taken when the World Bank president Robert Zoellick visits India in December.

The country has already spent Rs 960 crores in the last 22 years under the Ganga Action Plan I and II and as the river remain as dirty as every, the government has approached the World Bank to rejuvenate the river.

"Obviously, we have to do things differently than we have done so far," he said pointing that 75% of the pollution in the river comes from municipal sewage and another 25% comes from industrial effluents.

"The World Bank support would be a major element in bringing fair amount of resources as far as cleaning the Ganga River is concerned," Ramesh added.

Rajiv Guaba who heads the National River Conservation Directorate said that the Bank will provide three million as project preparation facility, which includes preparing detailed project reports and consultancy to execute the task.