India: World Bank Likely to Give $1 Billion for Cleaning Ganga River

By MUKESH JAGOTA
NEW DELHI -- India is close to securing a $1 billion loan from the World Bank to fund a recently-launched program to clean and conserve the Ganga river, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Wednesday.
This loan will be part of the $4 billion that India plans to spend to stop all discharges of untreated sewage and industrial effluents into the river by 2020, Mr. Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.
The loan will be spread over five to seven years.
"This is a start, there may be more (money)," World Bank President Robert Zoellick said.
Write to Mukesh Jagota at mukesh.jagota@dowjones.com