Chongqing, China's largest municipality located on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, plans to invest 50 billion yuan (US$6.7 billion) in developing recycling economy and environmental protection in the 2006-2010 period, a high-ranking official said.

Vice Mayor Huang Qifan said on Monday that the investment will be mainly used in technological innovations aimed at curbing pollutant discharge and saving energy.

By 2010, the energy consumption for 10,000 yuan of gross domestic product will be down 20 percent from the 2005 level and urban sewage treatment rate will rise to 90 percent from 65 percent in 2006, said Huang, at a national recycling economy conference held in Chongqing, one of the first group of 10 pilot cities listed in late 2005 for developing recycling economy across the country.

The Changshou chemical industry park, Chongqing Power Plant and Chongqing Iron and Steel Group, are the areas in which the city is practising recycling economy, according to Huang.

With a population of nearly 28 million, Chongqing also boasts a 600-kilometer section of the Three Gorges Reservoir formed by the construction of the massive Three Gorges hydropower project. The city has spent more than 20 billion yuan to protect water environment in the Three Gorges reservoir and curb pollutant discharge in urban areas in the past five years.

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2007)