Beijing, the Chinese capital, plans to invest 12 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion) in sewage treatment projects by 2008.

An agreement has been signed between Beijing Water Drainage Group and the Construction Bank of China Beijing Branch on a loan of 2 billion yuan (US$241.5 million), according to Monday's China Youth Daily.

Beijing will build nine sewage treatment plants, a 1,000-kilometer sewage discharge channel, nine projects for recycling water and four projects for sludge treatment to meet the requirements of its fast economic growth, its plans to host a green Olympics in 2008 and to meet the demand of long-term urban development.

Beijing has poured more than three billion yuan (US$362 million) into building five sewage treatment plants, with a combined daily capacity of 1.48 million cubic meters, in recent years.

Beijing treats 47.7 percent of its total waste water annually, compared with only five percent in 1990.

(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2003)