The World Bank (WB) has approved a US$124.7 million loan for an environmental protection project in the central coastal cities of Nha Trang, Quy Nhon and Dong Hoi.

The project will help improve, extend and build new rubbish dumps, and improve the usage capacity of equipment and waste treatment facilities as well as the competence of finance, information and infrastructure management in the cities.

Part of the loan was sourced by the International Development Association (IDA) which supports anti-poverty programs in low-income countries, the WB said Wednesday.

Apart from the IDA’s funding, each city would receive $2 million for the purchase of sanitary facilities at schools and the construction of toilets for households in these localities.

The Global Environmental Fund will provide $5 million in non-refundable aid for the pilot application of new water treatment technology in Quy Nhon city.

Besides, the Japanese Finance Ministry will also contribute $4.6 million to community awareness raising and capacity improvement of service providers in the project sites.

The project director, Bill Kingdom estimates that the amount of waste in Vietnam’s cities and towns will increase by 60 percent by 2010.

Source: VNA