World Bank Approves Projects Worth $600 Million In UP And Haryana To Combat Air Pollution. Check Details

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The World Bank has approved to finance Uttar Pradesh (UP) Clean Air Management Program (UPCAMP) and Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development Operation with the aim to improve the air quality of these states, targeting 270 million people.

“These programs will also aim at further increasing the attractiveness of both states as business destinations and engines of job creation,” the World Bank said in a release on 10 December.

The projects are part of the World Bank' s Regional Air Quality Management Program in the Indo-Gangetic Plains and Himalayan Foothills (IGP-HF). They will also benefit from grants from the World Bank's Resilient Asia Program, funded by the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, along with support from the multi-donor Energy Sector Management Assessment Program.

The Uttar Prades project has a final maturity of 10 years, including a two-year grace period, while the initiative for Haryana has a final maturity of 23.5 years, including a six-year grace period.

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The Uttar Pradesh (UP) Clean Air Management Program (UPCAMP), with a budget of $299.66 million, will expand the state government's Clean Air Plan by funding vital sectors such as transport, agriculture, and industry to enhance air quality for residents.

The initiative seeks to help 3.9 million households gain access to clean cooking. It will also promote the use of clean transport by introducing 15,000 electric three-wheelers and 500 electric buses in cities such as Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, and Gorakhpur. The project aims to support the state government's initiative to offer incentives for replacing 13,500 polluting heavy-duty vehicles with lower-emitting vehicles.

Elaborating more on the project, Ana Luisa Lima and Farah Zahir, the task team leaders of UPCAMP, said, "By adopting an airshed approach – rather than city-level solutions – Uttar Pradesh aims to reduce air pollution faster and at lower cost by collaborating with other states to control transboundary emissions.”

They added,“Among its initiatives, the program will incentivise farmers to adopt good practices to improve fertiliser use efficiency and manage livestock waste. It will also help MSMEs transition to cleaner technologies and promote e-mobility in urban centres.”

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The Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development, with a $300 million budget, seeks to aid the state government's Action Plan to cut air pollution through multiple sectoral measures. It will fund the deployment of air quality and emission monitoring systems to enhance the state's capacity to assess the effects of different pollution sources.

The project will also fund investments in clean transportation, including electric bus services and three-wheelers in Gurugram, Sonipat, and Faridabad. These initiatives aim to enhance connectivity and provide greater access to employment opportunities, particularly for women. Additionally, the project will support the state's initiatives to encourage MSMEs to adopt cleaner technologies and promote machinery and innovations for the productive reuse of agricultural waste, including paddy stubble.

Sharing more details on the initiative, Sharlene Chichgar, Laghu Parashar, and Saumya Srivastava, task team leaders of the project, said,“By targeting emissions in key sectors such as transport, agriculture, industry, and urban development, this program will also aim at mobilising over $127 million from private capital mobilisation.”

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