ADB provided $300 million to China to support the struggle against air pollution

Almaty. January 25. Silkroadnews - According to the Chinese mass-media, Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided Hebei Province (North China) with the loan of $300 million to implement the measures to improve the air quality.  
“The loan is granted for 15 years at 1% annual interest. The funds shall be used to build a system for monitoring and analysis to strengthen the control over the implementation of environmental legislation”, the report says referring to finance department of Hebei province.
At present Hebei is one of the elements of the integrated region Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei plan, directed to replace coal with environmentally friendly sources of energy, develop public transport and increase use of biomass fuel in rural areas for the sake of environment.
According to ADB estimations the project will contribute to reduce the amount of coal consumption in Hebei by about 12.4 million tons per year, i.e. 4% of the total consumption in 2012. Thus, it is possible to expect a significant reduction in emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide by 18 million tons annually compared to 2012.
In conjunction with the ADB loan the German development bank KfW decided to allocate EUR150 million to support the fight against air pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.