Australia will offer technical support and assistance to India’s mammoth undertaking of cleaning up the Ganga, Australian High Commissioner Patrick Suckling says.
“We have agreed to work with India. We have spent $350 million to develop river basin modelling technology to save one of our biggest rivers, the Murray-Darling river basin. We are sharing this technology with India,” he said in an interaction here.
A pilot study is already on in the Brahmani river in eastern India, he added.
“When Mr. Modi [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] was in Australia, we also announced an intensification of our water partnership in order to work with India on the PM’s priority of cleaning up the Ganga. So, we are going to be looking at some areas of technical support. It’s a massive exercise to clean-up an entire river system,” Mr. Suckling said.
Stressing that both India and Australia have huge water challenges that need to be addressed, he said effective management of river systems was essential to ensure equitable allocation of water and preservation of ecosystems.
Adani projectReacting to the controversy surrounding a memorandum of understanding between the State Bank of India and the Adani group on a $1-billion loan for the setting up of a coal mine in Australia, Mr. Suckling said the Queensland government itself was investing in the Adani project.
“It is putting some of its own government money behind the project,” he said. “I know that the Adanis are talking with all sorts of banks all over the world. The money that they get will be based on sound commercial decisions. Banks aren’t in the business of throwing their money away.”
However, he said the Australian government was not in a position to offer any sovereign guarantees for the viability of the project.
“At the end of the day, these are commercial decisions. If litigation arises, that is a matter for the courts. Our government is committed to be as business-friendly as possible, but not at the expense of undermining any laws or environmental protocols.”
