MINSK, 5 July (BelTA) – Belarus signed loan agreements with the World Bank in the amount of $42.5 million and with Global Environment Facility (GEF) in the amount of $5.5 million for the Integrated Solid Waste Management Project. The project is divided into two phases, WB permanent representative in Belarus Ivan Velev informed. The first one is the solid waste management; the second one is the Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) management. Some $42.5 million will be allocated for the first phase of the project, $5.5 million - for the second phase. The repayment period is 15 years, with a five-year grace period. The funds will be used to finance the construction of a 120,000 tonne/year modern mechanical separation plant to recover recyclable materials from commercial and household waste in Grodno, said Minister of Housing and Utilities of Belarus Vladimir Belokhvostov. The plant is scheduled for delivery in 2014. “ This is the first time that I have signed the agreement on such beneficial terms,” the minister said. The minister also said he hopes for the implementation of the second phase of the project which envisages the construction of a waste treatment facility after 2014 when “harmful substances are destroyed 100%”. The waste treatment facility will be constructed by a company which will come up a winner in a tender which is currently in progress. Companies from Germany, Sweden, France and Denmark are competing in the tender. Under the project we are planning “to take around 1,050 tonnes of pesticides from Slonim, and 840 tonnes of the POP-containing equipment,” informed Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Vladimir Tsalko. Today there are around 8,000 tonnes of pesticides subject to destruction in Belarus. Belarus joined the World bank in 1992. Since then the WB has allocated a total of $685 million for ten projects. Grant assistance in the amount of $24 million has been given for thirty national programs. Today Belarus is implementing five infrastructure development projects with the help of the World Bank.

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