Money, Manpower Needed for Building Ecological Shelter for Beijing: OfficialAn official from north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region said Tuesday that the region still needs much more money and manpower to build a safe ecological barrier protecting Beijing from sandstorms.Yang Shijie, deputy secretary of the regional committee of the Communist Party of China, told Xinhua that the region has presented more than 20 ecological projects to the forthcoming talks on cooperation and investment between the eastern and western regions of China, scheduled to open in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on April 6. Inner Mongolia prepared a total of 115 investment projects for the upcoming trade fair, according to Yang. Yang said although the central government has poured huge amounts of money into ecological construction in the region, it is a necessary way to raise funds for the massive ecological project through investment projects. China regards Inner Mongolia as the most important region in north China which bears great responsibility in safeguarding Beijing from strong winds and heavy sandstorms. According to Yang, the central government invested 1.6 billion yuan (US$192.7 million) in ecological rebuilding in the region last year, equal to the total amount for the previous 20 years. He said that manpower is also badly needed to carry out the huge project. Zhenghuang Banner in the Xilin Gol League only has a population of 25,000, however, the government has allocated 20 million yuan (US$2.4 million) for it to plant trees. Even if people plant trees every day, it is still hard for them to complete the 20 million yuan worth of trees, Yang said. The desert area of Inner Mongolia accounts for 60 percent of its total land area of 1.18 million square kilometers and the area that is becoming desert is still expanding by 660,000 hectares annually. Eleven sandstorms hit the region in the first three months this year, which have badly affected the air quality of Beijing, Xi'an and other cities. The region has five deserts and five sandy areas, some of which are only 180 kilometers away from Beijing. The region has made a timetable for beautifying itself: ecological deterioration will be initially curbed by 2005; great efforts in ecological construction will pay off by 2010; and by the mid-21st century, a new Inner Mongolia with a sound ecological system will emerge in north China. |
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