ADB to double investments in Asia water projects
Afp, Mexico City
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) intends to double annual investment in Asian water projects to two billion dollars over the next five years, a senior ADB official said here Monday. "The Pacific region really needs this program, there are as many underserved people in China as in the whole of Africa," ADB vice president, Geert van der Linden, told a press conference. Van der Linden said ADB investment would help provide drinking water to 200 million people, improve water irrigation and drainage to some 40 million others and reduce the risks of floods which could threaten some 100 million people in the Asia Pacific region. The investments are likely to focus on China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam. The "Water Financement Programme (WFP) will also mobilize co-financing and additionnal investment from governments, the private sector and multi and bilateral partners," said Wout Lincklaen Arriens, an ADB water resources specialist. "An initial target of 100 million dollars in bilateral grants has been proposed to support the implementation of the WFP," Arriens said. Some 700 million people across Asia Pacific did not have access to quality water in 2002, according to UN estimates.
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