Chongqing City to Spend Heavily to Improve EnvironmentThe municipal government of Chongqing in southwest China plans to spend US$24.1 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion) on several projects to improve the environment in the next five years.During the city's Tenth Five-Year plan (2001-2005) period, a senior government official said the city will invest 5.5 billion yuan (US$660 million) to conduct technical renovations in iron and steel, building material, and glass-making industries to reduce dust by 23,000 tons. Some 12.76 billion yuan (US$1.78 billion) will be spent to build 27 waste water treatment plants in downtown Chongqing and along the rivers of the Yangtze, Jialin and Wujiang. The plants will have a combined handling capacity of 2.18 million tons of waste water a day. Meanwhile, the city will construct 26 garbage treatment plants with a combined handling capacity of 62 million tons a day. The city will also build two ecological demonstration projects in the western and eastern parts of the city, as well as 35 nature reserves to improve the overall environment. Chongqing, with a population of 30 million, is the world's most populous city. It has been listed as China's key environmental construction area because it is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, China's largest river, and in the Three Gorges. |
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