SW China's White-Sand Beach to Receive FaceliftA proposal from the Chinese Environmental Science Research Institute to restore the ecologicalenvironment along a strip of white-sand beach in Beihai City, a popular tourist destination facing south China's Beibu Gulf, has recently passed an appraisal from relative government departments.The project to cost 80 million yuan (US$9.6 million) of funding from the city government of Beihai is designed to treat both polluted water and the beach by removing illegitimate construction along the beach, recovering green belts and improving water and sewage gathering systems. With 98 percent of the beach covered quartz sand, the 24 km long and 90-120 meters wide silver-color beach was developed for tourism in 1990. The beach was listed as one of China's 12 best national resorts in 1992, with over 800,000 tourists visiting the spot every year. However, the commercial development, which lacks scientific planning, has disturbed the environment of the beach, according to a thorough investigation with the institute. The institute carried out a two year study on the beach environment, which led to the face-lift proposal. Jin Xiangcan, a professor with the institute, said that with the recovery of the environmental situation at the silver beach, the number of tourists has a potential of increase by more 50 percent from the present level, which has not increased since 1994. |
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