Namami Gange project to get $400 million assistance from World Bank for Ganga rejuvenation

The World Bank will provide USD 400 million (Rs 3,023.10 crore) assistance to enhance support for the Namami Gange programme that seeks to rejuvenate the Ganga river. On Tuesday, the agreement for the loan was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India and Qaiser Khan, Acting Country Director (India), on behalf of the World Bank.

'World bank has been supporting India...'

The Second National Ganga River Basin Project (SNGRBP) will help stem pollution in the sacred river and strengthen the management of the river basin, the World Bank said in a release on Tuesday. The amount includes USD 381 million (Rs 2,879 crore) loan and World Bank guarantees of up to USD 19 million (Rs 143 crore) as a payment security mechanism, the National Mission for Clean Ganga said in a separate statement.

The World Bank has been supporting the government's efforts since 2011 through the ongoing National Ganga River Basin Project (NGRBP), which helped set up the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) as the nodal agency to manage the river, and financed sewage treatment infrastructure in several riverside towns and cities, it added.

'...river returns to a pollution-free state'

The USD 381-million variable spread loan has a maturity of 18.5 years, including a grace period of 5 years. The USD 19-million guarantee expiry date will be 18 years from the guarantee effectiveness date, the World Bank said. Under the Namami Gange Programme, 313 projects have been sanctioned till March 2020 at a total cost of Rs 28,966 crore in different sectors.

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"The Ganga is India's most important cultural, economic and environmental resource and the government's Namami Gange Programme seeks to ensure that the river returns to a pollution-free, ecologically healthy state. The new project will extend the government of India and the World Bank's engagement in this critical national programme to make the Ganga a clean, healthy river," said Khare.

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Meanwhile, the bidding process for projects under the second phase of the Namami Gange mission will start in the next three months, Director General of the National Mission for Clean Ganga Rajiv Mishra said on Tuesday. The funding for the second phase was approved by the World Bank last week, and it will kickstart after the phase-1 ends on December 31, 2021, a statement by the NMCG said.

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(With agency inputs)