A Sino-German afforestation project along the Yangtze River, serving as a shelter belt, has been completed after four years of development.

The Environmental project launched in 1996 involved a total investment of 104 million yuan (about 12.5 million U.S. dollars), including 12 million Deutsche marks (about six million U.S. dollars) granted by the German government.

To carry out the project in east China's Anhui Province, a 31, 000 hectares of afforestation belt has been established to control soil erosion and floods. This is expected to benefit some 620,000 farmers in 480 impoverished villages.

During the past four years, German officials inspected the progress of the project three times and were satisfied with what they saw.

Another Sino-German collaborative forestry project, known as " ecological protection belt", will be launched soon in the southern part of the province with an investment of 80.04 million yuan, including 12 million Deutsche marks to be granted by the German government. This new project is expected to take five years to complete.