ADB: $100 mln loan to environmental improvement PRC

$100M ADB loan to address urban sector problems in PRC’s Jilin Province

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending financial assistance to address urban environmental concerns besetting Jilin province in the Northeast region of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

This is ADB’s second major investment that will contribute to pollution control in the Songhua River Basin. The project cities of Changchun and Yanji in Jilin province are located along the Songhua River basin, the third largest in the PRC. The river is severely polluted with organic chemicals, heavy metals and conventional pollutants, consequently impeding economic development in the region.

ADB will extend a $100 million loan to the Jilin Urban Environmental Improvement Project, which is estimated to cost $352.68 million. The balance will be covered by the government of the PRC.

The project will help reduce water pollution, protect water resources, address water shortage and meet the demand for high-quality treated water, implement an effective solid-waste management, and reduce air pollution by paring down coal consumption and adopting more efficient central heating.

“The successful implementation of the project should promote sustainable economic development and improve the environment as well as the living conditions of the 3.6 million urban residents in the project cities of Changchun and Yanji,” said Sangay Penjor, principal financial analysis specialist of ADB’s East Asia Department.

Given that the present landfill site in Changchun will be fully utilized within two years, there is urgent need for a new domestic solid-waste treatment facility to effectively control nonpoint source of pollution in the Songhua River basin. Nonpoint source of pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, comes from many diverse sources. It is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even underground sources of drinking water.

“Jilin province plays a critical role in integrating water and wastewater management and solid-waste management in the Songhua River basin. The project will help Changchun achieve an 80% wastewater treatment rate by 2012 and help Yanji achieve a wastewater treatment rate of 95% by the same year,” said Mr. Penjor.

The project forms part of the Songhua River basin Water Pollution Prevention and Control Plan, a government-approved action program that sets pollution control targets from 2006 to 2010. Under the plan, urban environmental pollution and ecological damage should be controlled by 2010.

Prior to this project, a $100 million loan was extended by the Bank to the Jilin Water Supply and Sewerage Development project, which was the first major investment by ADB that directly addresses pollution control in the Songhua River Basin.

About ADB