WB provides $110m loan for Bali infrastructure
WB provides $110m loan for Bali infrastructure
JAKARTA (JP): The World Bank has approved a US$110 million
loan to help finance an urban infrastructure development project
in Bali and improve the sustainability of infrastructure services
in that province.
The bank said over the weekend the loan would make up most of
the project (32.9 percent), which has a total cost of $334.7
million.
The rest would come from the local government of Bali (27.2
percent), the private sector (16.6 percent) and the central
government (10.11 percent), with the remainder coming from Bali's
water enterprises, the provincial government, the Asian
Development Bank, Japanese grants and others.
The statement said the project would meet the basic needs of
all urban centers and the needs of the growing urbanization in
South Bali.
The project would consist of urban infrastructure investments,
private sector participation, cultural heritage conservation and
institutional strengthening.
Through urban infrastructure investments, the project would
improve urban roads and traffic management operations, extend and
rehabilitate water supply networks, increase drainage and flood
control capabilities, improve solid waste management and
sanitation systems and provide infrastructure to neighborhood
improvement programs.
Under the project's private sector participation, technical
assistance would be given to facilitate private sector investment
and participation in water supply and solid waste projects.
The cultural heritage conservation program would provide
technical assistance and training to rehabilitate selected
historical sites and strengthen the provincial and local capacity
in conserving cultural heritage.
Under the institutional capacity development program, the
funds would go to improving the capacities of central, provincial
and local government agencies in project implementation,
environmental management and community consultations.
The World Bank estimated the number of urban dwellers in
Indonesia to reach 90 million by the year 2000.
Rapid urban growth in Indonesia has placed huge constraints on
infrastructure resources, resulting in only 20 percent of urban
households having direct access to piped water and only 40
percent to sanitation facilities, the bank said.
The World Bank said in a statement over the weekend that
inadequate industrial water supply, liquid and solid waste
disposal and degraded environmental conditions were "serious
problems" threatening the physical and economic health of
Indonesia's urban areas.
"These problems highlight the need to increase the quality and
coverage of urban services, greater decentralization of
responsibility to local governments, greater private sector and
community participation and environmental sustainability," it
said. (pwn)