Asian Development Bank to give USD 200 mn loan for Swatch Bharat Mission 2.0

New Delhi [India], July 30 (ANI): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and India signed a USD 200 million loan agreement to improve solid waste management and sanitation in 100 cities across eight states in India, said ADB on Tuesday.

The loan agreement has been named as the Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0-Comprehensive Municipal Waste Management in Indian Cities Program.

The agreement was signed by Juhi Mukherjee, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance, who signed for the Government of India, and Mio Oka Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, who signed for ADB.

After signing the loan agreement, Mukherjee stated that the program supports the objectives of Government of India’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission-Urban 2.0 by enhancing sanitation and solid waste management infrastructure including waste segregation, collection and disposal.

“This program 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,” said Ms Oka.

She further added that “It will also strengthen women’s participation in sanitation and service delivery and harness private sector participation.”

According to the agreement, the ADB’s support will upgrade and establish solid waste processing and management facilities such as bio-methanation plants, composting plants, managed landfills, material recovery facilities, and plastic waste processing facilities. It will also support the construction of community toilets and urinals and the purchase of sweeping equipment.

These facilities and delivery of urban services will include climate- and disaster-resilient, gender equality and social inclusion-responsive features.

The program will build urban local bodies’ capacity on waste management and sanitation, encourage peer-to-peer learning, and proactively engage with the private sector. It will help conduct annual reviews and progress updates of citywide solid waste and sanitation action plans. Training and awareness campaigns for sanitation workers and communities will be conducted to improve waste segregation and waste collection.

ADB will provide an additional USD 3.15 million technical assistance (TA) grant from its Urban Resilience Trust Fund, Republic of Korea e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund, and the Sanitation Financing Partnership Trust Fund.

ADB said that the TA grant will support program implementation, capacity building of selected states on financial management and monitoring and evaluation and facilitate twinning or city-to-city partnerships.