Germany to give Euro 120 million soft loan for Clean Ganga Mission
30th August, 2018Category: International
Germany has decided to allocate euro 120 million (approx. Rs 990 crore) as a soft loan to India to help clean the holy river Ganga. Jasper Wieck, the Deputy Head of the German mission in India, said that cleaning Ganga is a tough task. Wieck said that it took us 30 years and 45 billion euros to clean Rhine river. Length of Ganga is double its length, so this can give you an essence about problems India is facing in cleaning Ganga. The purpose of the project is to reduce the inflow of untreated waste water in River Ganga and, thus, to improve the water quality of the river. The money will be used in Uttarakhand. The project would focus on extension and replacement of sewerage system (around 360 kilometres) including complete house connection, construction of sewage treatment plants of around 15 million litres per day (mld) and 13 sewage pumping stations.
In 2015, Germany had committed India an interest subsidised loan of up to euro 120 million through German Development Bank KfW to finance the construction of sewerage network and treatment plants. German development agency GIZ has prepared a ‘Ganga Box’ on the line of ‘Danube Book’. It will have all mythological, social-cultural and economic importance information related to the river.
Read More: The Times of India, Times Now News, The Financial Express