World Bank loans $100m to clean China’s Lijang River
The country will receive a $100m loan from the World Bank to support water management and anti-pollution efforts for one its most popular tourist destinations
A man sails down China's Lijang River. A $100m loan from the World Bank will help China maintain the river's water quality and prevent pollution
This is great news for the city of Guilin, as tourism accounted for nearly 20 percent of its economic output in 2012, with much of the visitors coming primarily to gaze at the iconic river and surrounding karst formations in southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
The Guilin municipal government has worked tirelessly to maintain the water quality and prevent pollution
The Guilin municipal government has worked tirelessly to maintain the water quality and prevent pollution by using methods, such as relocating industries, building wastewater treatment plants and landfills, and rehabilitating tributaries.
Implemented between 1998 and 2007, the earlier project focused on improving the environmental conditions in Guilin’s core urban area by improving wastewater collection and treatment, as well as effluent regulations and solid waste management.
But the new Guilin Integrated Environment Management Project, which is supported by the new loan from the World Bank, is to be implemented from 2015 to 2020, and will focus on improving the water supply system and the collection and treatment capacity of Guilin’s wastewater treatment plants.
It will also enhance sludge management, and strengthening water quality monitoring and pollution management to benefit local communities, as well as tourists.
“The new project will support these efforts, building on our past experience from the World Bank-supported Guangxi Urban Environment Project”, said Sing Cho, the World Bank’s Urban Specialist and task team leader for the project.
