ADB provides $60m funds for RP

ADB provides $60m funds for RP

Manila: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Friday it has
released an additional US$60 million for a project to
rehabilitate the Philippines' most polluted river.

The Manila-based ADB said the additional funding represented
the second and last trance of a $100 million loan approved in
2000 to help cleanup the Pasig River in Manila.

Michael Lindfield, ADB's senior officer in charge of the
project, said the program to save the Pasig River has been
"making significant progress".

Fifteen parks have either been completed or are being
developed along the river's banks, providing "much-needed
breathing space for the cramped riverside communities", he said.

"In these areas, flows of raw sewage and storm water into the
river have been considerably reduced and local governments are
preparing ambitious plans for urban renewal," he added.

The Pasig River, the main waterway flowing through Manila, is
seriously polluted due to indiscriminate discharge of untreated
municipal and industrial waste water and solid waste. -- dpa