In a joint announcement, 13 municipal government departments said Saturday that the facelift is aimed to give Shanghai a new look before international VIPs come in June and October.

Starting from April 1, a special team will be organized to the take up the cleaning of the rivers running through the city and the banks.

"The goal is to make sure there will would be no trash in the rivers and on their banks at anytime," the announcement said.

The horticulture department will organize related enterprises and social institutions to clean the city's green areas which has been increasing rapidly in recent years. Twenty-four hour service will be arranged for key areas such as the Yuyuan Garden and the Bund.

All institutions along the city's newly built elevated ring road will be mobilized for the cleaning and maintenance of the greenery alongside the road.

With all the work done, a pleasing green scenery will stretch before visitors on their 53-kilometer trip from the city's Hongqiao Airport to the downtown area and the new Pudong International Airport.

The city also plans to whitewash 4.8 million square meters of buildings and renovate 610,000 square meters of roofs, and will bring down 106,000 square meters of illegal buildings.

Real estate management firms and volunteers have been mobilized to clean up residential areas.

About 15 hotels, 39 tourist attractions, 150 roads and various bus stations, wharves and airports will be the focus of the clean-up campaign for the informal summit of the APEC in October.

Improper advertisements and vendors will also be cleared off.

Greet APEC With An Environment-Friendly Image

According to the news from Shanghai environmental protection department, the metropolis will fully display its environment-friendly image to 21 heads of the state, government officials and more than 30,000 personages from foreign lands who are going to attend the 2001 APEC meeting to be held this fall in Shanghai.

To this end, catering, accommodation and necessities for daily use will fully embody the conception of green consumption nowadays in vogue.

(People's Daily 04/02/2001)