New Delhi, August 12, 2024: Asian Development Bank (ADB) will offer a $200 million (about Rs 1,700 crore) loan to India to improve its solid waste management and sanitation. In this regard, the Government of India and ADB have recently signed an agreement wherein the loan amount will be utilized for solid waste management and sanitation across 100 cities of eight states in the country.
The loan agreement is a part of Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 -Comprehensive Municipal Waste Management in Indian Cities Program and was signed between Juhi Mukherjee, Joint Secretary, Finance Ministry, and Mio Oka, Country Director for Asian Development Bank (ADB) - India Resident Mission.
While signing the agreement, Mio Oka was quoted saying, “This programme is guided by lessons derived from ADB's experience in urban infrastructure development across several states and will incorporate international best practices, new digital technologies, and mainstream climate- and disaster-resilient approaches in municipal solid waste management to promote a clean environment free from garbage and pollution.”
As a part of the MoU, ADBwill help in upgrading and establishing solid waste processing and management facilities like composting plants, bio-methanation plants, material recovery facilities, managed landfills, and plastic waste processing facilities.
The collaboration will also support in procuring sweeping equipment and the construction of community toilets and urinals. These facilities and delivery of urban services will include climate- and disaster-resilient, gender equality and social inclusion-responsive features.
Engaging with the private sector, capacity building of urban local bodies for waste management and sanitation and encouraging peer-to-peer learning will be some other highlights of the program. Under the initiative, annual reviews will also be conducted to track the status and progress of city-wide solid waste and sanitation action plans.
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