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World Bankâ€™s environment mission arrives in Baku

10 November 2008 15:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Nijat Mustafayev â€“ APA-Economics. The World Bank mission for the Absheron Peninsula Environmental Clean-up Project arrived in Baku on November 10.
The World Bankâ€™s Office in Baku said the objective of the visit is to get acquainted with the implementation of the project.
The delegation will also have meetings at relevant government agencies of the country.
In June, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved US$74.50 million for one of the projects- the ARP I Contaminated Sites Rehabilitation Project - will support the Environment State Program to curtail environmental degradation in the Absheron Peninsula, by assisting in decontamination of former iodine production sites and the development of a strategy for remediation/containment of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM) contaminated sites. The project will also provide support to develop institutional capacity for the cleanup of former oil production sites.
US$29.5 million for another project - the ARP II Integrated Solid Waste Management Project - will support the State Environment Program to curtail environmental degradation in the Absheron Peninsula. It will support the reform of the Greater Baku solid waste collection and disposal operations into an effective and sustainable system in the fields of: (i) improving environmental conditions at the existing waste disposal sites, (ii) building-up operational, management and communication capabilities, (iii) rollout of collection services, and (iv) data collection and planning.
US$60.0 million for the third project - The ARP III Large-Scale Oil Polluted Land Cleanup Project - will support the State Environment Program to curtail environmental degradation in the Absheron Peninsula, by improving: (i) the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republicâ€™s capacity and effectiveness in environmental management and in cleaning up of oil-polluted land in the Absheron Peninsula, and (ii) the quality of soil conditions in oil-polluted lands cleaned up under the project.
The IBRD loans come for 17 years with a grace period of 4 years.
Decades of industrial operations have left about 33 300 hectares of land in the peninsula polluted by oil products and industrial waste material, the World Bank said. The area is one of the oldest oil-producing regions in the world.
15,000 hectares of Absheron the oil-polluted sites are owned by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR).
AZN 63 million was allocated by SOCAR, and AZN 18.5 million was freed up from government funds for cleaning up and restoration of the polluted lands.