Contact:
In New Delhi: Sudip Mozumder (91-11) 24617241
smozumder@worldbank.org
In Washington: Erik Nora (202) 458 4735
enora@worldbank.org New Delhi, December 2, 2009: The World Bank is helping the Government of India in its recently launched program to clean and conserve the Ganga River, with an initial assiatance of $1 billion to be provided over the next 4 to 5 years. In a Joint Statement released today, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, and World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick announced the Bank’s commitment to explore the provision of long-term financing and knowledge assistance for this critical national program. “The Ganga has sustained civilization throughout time, but is today burdened by expanding production, industries and urban development along its banks and in its basin, with all the pollution this brings,” said Zoellick, following a detailed discussion of the Government’s Ganga program on the first day of his four-day visit to India. “The Bank would be honored to help and support India’s renewed endeavor to revitalize this uniquely important river.” "This is a project of enormous national importance and I am pleased that the World Bank has come forward to assist us," said Jairam Ramesh. The World Bank Group President said global experience shows that cleaning and conserving large rivers is an immense challenge requiring bold action and long-term commitment. “The Government of India has shown visionary leadership in beginning to address this challenge and the Bank will begin its engagement by facilitating the exchange of relevant experience from elsewhere. We hope this will assist in the improved management of this great river basin that supports close to 400 million people in India alone,” he added. According to the Joint Statement, the World Bank will seek to support the Government’s national program to clean and conserve the Ganga through substantial financing over several phases, with the first of several loans/credits planned for presentation to the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors for approval between July 2010 and June 2011. The initial phase of any Bank assistance would focus on three key areas: · Building the institutions and knowledge base for basin management: Bank support will seek to help develop the newly constituted National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) into a world-class institution with a state-of-the-art Knowledge Center that can manage the basin in a sustainable manner. · Helping build a global consortium of financiers: The Government of India estimates that it will require an initial investment of $ 4 billion to achieve its immediate objective of stopping all discharge of untreated sewage and industrial effluent into the Ganga by 2020. The Bank will help India access funding from other financial partners to support this objective, known as the ‘Mission Clean Ganga’. · Financing priority investments: The Bank will seek to finance select investments aimed at cleaning the Ganga, where pollution levels in certain stretches touches ten thousand times India’s bathing standards. This initial portfolio of projects will be finalized by NGRBA by March 2010. Acknowledging the Government’s efforts to secure broad-based stakeholder engagement around the Ganga program, Zoellick said the Bank’s experience in similar programs globally shows that river management and clean-up programs need to be a “compelling proposition for all stakeholders” in order to be sustainable. This was all the more important in a river with the “iconic status” of the Ganga, he said. Applauding the Government of India’s approach of moving from a town-centric approach to a broader river basin approach, the World Bank’s Country Director for India, Roberto Zagha, said effective implementation would depend on building the right institutions that can deliver results in a complex, multi-state, multi-sector environment. “These institutions must also be coupled with the right kind of incentives. The challenge before us is to develop results-based incentives for all the agencies involved so that we can achieve the desired goal of a clean and sustainable Ganga,” said Zagha. The meeting on the Ganga program was attended by officials of the NGRBA, MoEF, and senior officials from the five Ganga basin states, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. # # # For more information on the Bank’s work in India: http://www.worldbank.org.in |
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