World Bank Approves $305 Million For Haryana's Clean Air Project

The World Bank has approved a financial assistance package of USD 305 million for the Haryana Clean Air Project for Sustainable Development (HCAPSD), a flagship initiative aimed at transforming Haryana into a pollution-free state by 2030.

A spokesperson of the state government said the approval follows a high-level meeting held here in November last year between Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and World Bank representatives.

During this meeting, the World Bank committed to extending a loan of Rs 2,498 crore to support the rollout of the HCAPSD, which carries a total project cost of Rs 3,646 crore.

The spokesperson said that the Haryana government will contribute Rs 1,065 crore, with an additional Rs 83 crore allocated as a grant.

The HCAPSD is designed to bring measurable, statewide improvements in air quality through coordinated action across key sectors, "including transport, industry, agriculture, urban management, and scientific monitoring.

The project's implementation will be led by the dedicated Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), ARJUN (AI for Resilient Jobs, Urban Air Quality & Next-Gen Skills Council), ensuring seamless integration in planning, execution, and real-time monitoring.

ARJUN is chaired by Rajesh Khullar, Chief Principal Secretary to the Haryana CM. Khullar has served as the executive director in the Board of Directors of the World Bank as a representative of India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from 2020 to 2023.

The project will support Haryana's action plan aimed at reducing air pollution through a combination of multisectoral interventions. It will invest in air quality and emission monitoring systems to strengthen the state's ability to better gauge the impact of various sources of pollution.

Out of the total programme cost of Rs 3,646 crore, Rs 1,688 crore has been earmarked for transport-sector interventions aimed at sharply reducing urban transport emissions and strengthening Haryana's clean mobility ecosystem.

Under this component, 500 electric buses will be deployed across Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, and Jhajjar at an investment of Rs 1,513 crore.

Additional initiatives include the phase-out of high-polluting vehicles and support for the scrapping ecosystem, installation of 200 Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations (Rs 20 crore), incentives for electric three-wheelers (Rs 100 crore), and fleet replacement incentives to shift old three-wheelers to EVs (Rs 45 crore).

These initiatives will be jointly implemented by Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited, Haryana City Bus Service Limited, and the departments of transport and industries.

A further Rs 563 crore will be spent by the department of industries and commerce to drive cleaner industrial operations, real-time emission control, and improved compliance.

This includes Rs 100 crore in incentives for switching industrial boilers to Piped Natural Gas, Rs 330 crore for promoting or replacing high-emission diesel generator sets with low-emission alternatives, and Rs 33 crore to support the installation of Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems across key industrial units.

Besides, a sum of Rs 746 crore will be spent through the agriculture and panchayat departments for agriculture-sector interventions and advanced soil management.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)