East China's Shandong Province, which ranks third in the country in terms of GDP, has set the goal of making the environmental protection industry a major economic growth area.

Wang Renyuan, director of the provincial economic committee, said that 870 million yuan (105 million US dollars) will be spent on the development of products for treating waste water, waste industrial gas, and waste residue as well as auto exhaust over the next three years.

Advanced technology will be introduced from abroad to accelerate the effort, Wang said.

Pollution control equipment is now selling well in China as the country has enhanced its efforts to protect the environment.

It is estimated that China's annual output in the environmental protection industry has maintained a 30 percent growth in recent years, higher than that of most other industries.