The Government and the World Bank signed two loan agreements, one for the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project and another for Capacity Building for Industrial Pollution Management (CBIPMP), which aims to remediate ten highly polluted sites in the country.

The ICZM loan will provide assistance to implement the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project with overall cost of Rs 1155.63 crore, in which, the World Bank will contribute an amount of Rs 897 crore (77.7 per cent), and the Government Rs 177.49 crore (15.5 per cent) and the states Rs 80.02 crore (6.9 per cent).

The CBIPMP project will aim to remediate ten highly polluted sites, two in Andhra Pradesh and eight in West Bengal on a pilot basis, develop a National Plan for rehabilitation of polluted sites and build human and technical capacity in selected Pollution Control Boards for undertaking environmentally sound remediation of polluted sites.

The estimated cost of the project, to be implemented for a period of five years, is Rs 339.26 crore. The project will be funded through financial assistance from the World Bank (85 per cent) and contribution from the Environment Ministry and the Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal governments (15 per cent).

Welcoming the signing of the agreements, Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said, ‘These are both very significant projects for us. India has a vast coastline which needs to be conserved and protected based on scientific principles. The capacity of our states for coastal management also needs to be enhanced.’ He said the ICZM project will enable India to make the investments in these areas.

The CBIPMP Project is also critical as we attempt to clean up our polluted sites and develop longer term capacity for remediation.

‘While both these projects are being launched with a focus on a few states, I am eager that we scale these up rapidly to include the other states. We have already initiated discussions in this direction both within the government and with the World Bank,’ he said.

He also said the Government was also in talks with the World Bank for another important project to strengthen the technical and human capacity of Central and State Pollution Control Boards/Committees.

UNI