The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved on
Tuesday a US$128 million loan and a US$10 million grant from the
Global Environment Fund (GEF) to the People's Republic of China to
help finance a Guangdong Pearl River Delta Urban Environment
Project which will address environmental challenges of the Pearl
River Delta and the South China Sea, through the improvement and
rationalization of environmental service delivery based on a
regional planning approach.
The broad objective of the project is to provide a safe
environmental setting for the long-term development and improved
livability for residents in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. The
project would assist Guangdong Province in implementing its
previously announced PRD Clean Up Campaign calling for the
investment of RMB45 billion (US$5.5 billion) over the next eight
years in waste water treatment and other environmental facilities.
This project is expected to be the first in a series of World Bank
backed environmental initiatives in the PRD region.
Although Guangdong Province, and especially the PRD region, has
witnessed high economic growth for more than a decade, it has come
at a heavy cost to the environment. Water quality in many stretches
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 Macao.
The approved 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. It would
also 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 GEF grant would strengthen the water
quality monitoring program in the PRD, and would develop a
framework and pilot the implementation of better cooperation among
local governments in the planning, constructing, 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.
"This project has been prepared under the strong leadership of
Guangdong Province and Guangzhou City, with support from the World
Bank and the GEF as well as from countries like Canada, France,
Singapore and Denmark," said the World Bank task manager, Tom
Zearley.?"This type of collaboration underscores the broad
interest that exists in helping to maintain strong economic growth
in the PRD while addressing some of the most serious environmental
issues.?The World Bank is proud to be a partner with Guangdong
Province and with the city of Guangzhou in taking concert actions
under the project to reduce water pollution, to better treat and
dispose of hazardous wastes, and to strengthen the capacities and
institutional arrangements for the delivery of urban services."
The project would also reinforce Guangdong Province's programs
to reduce other sources of water pollution such as industrial waste
water discharge and animal waste and agricultural run-off into the
PRD rivers. Moreover, the water quality monitoring component is
designed to foster a stronger exchange of information and technical
know-how with Hong Kong and other neighboring jurisdictions for
improved regional environmental management.?
"At the city level, Guangzhou has taken many steps in recent
years to improve the urban environment and living conditions for
its residents", comments World Bank sector director, Mr. Keshav
Varma. "It is very impressive, and through the project Guangzhou
can continue to serve as a model for other cities in China and
elsewhere in the world."
One such innovation being supported will help to demonstrate to
other Chinese cities how to develop and implement institutional
arrangements to enable environmental service delivery to cross the
traditional administrative boundaries between and within
municipalities, thus allowing the cost savings associated with
economies of scale to be achieved. The project will also achieve
greater sustainability of urban services by reinforcing the
principle of "polluter pays" and the attainment of full cost
recovery for the provision of urban services, through gradual
tariff increases.
The operation builds on the main points of the Bank's urban
strategy--livability, good governance, strong finances, and urban
productivity--and gives impetus to the process of openness and
reform in Guangdong Province. It also backs the themes and specific
goals of the Bank's assistance strategy for China, by helping to
facilitate an environmentally sustainable development process, and
by improving the competitiveness and livability of major urban
centers in the PRD region, where many of China's poorest migrants
are seeking job opportunities and better living conditions.
(China.org.cn June 9, 2004)