China says for the next three years it will spend 1.35 percent of its annual gross domestic product on pollution reduction and solid waste treatment.

The proposed environmental protection investment plan was announced Monday by the Chinese Cabinet or State Council as part of a plan through 2010, Xinhua reported.

Zou Shoumin, director of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning who helped draft the plan, estimated the plan would cost about $85.3 billion for water pollution treatment, $80 billion to prevent air pollution and $28 billion on solid waste.

The government said the plan is up from the 1.31 percent of GDP the country spent in 2005.

Under the plan, the government will cut the chemical oxygen demand index that determines water pollution by 10 percent in the next three years and sulfur dioxide emissions by a similar percentage.

The targets set in the previous five-year plan were not met, the report said. But now there is an increased sense of urgency since it was found that 26 percent of China's surface water cannot be used for any purpose, 62 percent is unsuitable for fish and 90 percent of the rivers running through cities are polluted.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 27 November 2007   

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