The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed an agreement with 13 banks to support Beijing Enterprises Water Group Company (BEWG) for the promotion of high standard wastewater treatment and reuse in China, reports Business Standard.
This will be the largest such loan arranged by ADB with a $288 million B-loan agreement. It is part of ADB’s financing package to the project, including an ADB-financed loan of $120 million which was later upgraded to $408million. For all these B-loan structure, ADB will be the lender of record for commercial banks.
This B-loan aims the development of reuse of treated wastewater as a strategic option for sustainable water management. It is a great opportunity to work with 13 leading banks for managing the China’s water challenge, said, Hisaka Kimura, head, Private Sector Infrastructure Finance, East Asia Unit, ADB.
In China, per capita freshwater resources are low and annual per capita water donations are continuously decreasing. Pollution aggravates water scarcity, degrading sanitation in local communities which depend on local sources for water supply.
According to this project, BEWG will upgrade and operate wastewater treatment plants in China to meet high quality water treatment standard, which can be reused for both industry and environment needs.
The 13 banks are Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BPI Capital Corporation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia), Rabobank International, OCBC Wing Hang Bank, Kookmin Bank, Aozora Asia Pacific Finance Limited, State Bank of India, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank, KEB Asia Finance, Shinhan Asia, Taiwan Cooperative Bank, and ADB.
Sabeena Wahid
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