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