The World Bank approved Wednesday a loan of 100 million US dollars to finance an environment protection project in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

With the loan, the project will help to improve wastewater treatment, industrial pollution control, sanitation and solid waste services and management in Liuzhou, an industrial city in Guangxi, according to an unnamed official with the World Bank's Beijing office.

Specifically, the project plans to help Liuzhou develop a comprehensive wastewater collection and treatment system, finance the construction of about 62 public toilets in commercial and poor districts, one solid waste transfer station and 42 waste collection stations in the city and assist the municipal government in implementing industrial wastewater pollution control policies, the official said.

The project loan carries the standard LIBO-based variable rate and has a maturity of 20 years, including a five-year grace period.

Liuzhou, with its population of 1.2 million and more than a thousand industrial enterprises, is an important industrial center in South China and the largest industrial city in Guangxi.

Local economic development and population increases have strained Liuzhou's already burdened water, sewer and sanitation infrastructure.

Source: Xinhua