While USD 222 million will be provided for the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project, USD 150 million would go to the ongoing Karnataka Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (KRWSS) Project, the World Bank said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The loans would be provided by the International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank body that lends on concessional terms. IDA credits are interest-free and have long repayment schedule stretching to 35-40 years, including a 10-year grace period. The first project aims at building institutional arrangements, capacity and advanced knowledge systems for the implementation of nation-wide coastal zone programme.
“This project will also help pilot this approach in three coastal states of Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal, through a range of complementary local pilot investments in select coastal stretches to support state-level capacity building,” the statement said. The investments would go in mangrove plantation, cleaning up of beaches, regeneration of coral reefs and activities aimed at enhancing livelihoods of coastal communities.
As for the water supply project, the credit will help scale up the ongoing, second KRWSS to cover 1,650 villages and helping 4 million people get access to “efficient and reliable water supply”, it said. KRWSS is part of long-term programme of World Bank support to Karnataka.
Since 1993, two Bank-supported projects have already helped people in 4,166 villages in 23 districts in various states, the Bank said.