To help maintain marine biodiversity and preserve fishery resources, the city has also carried out a program to introduce marine life, such as sea turtles, small fish and sea snails.

ECO-FRIENDLY INFRASTRUCTURE

Sansha's residents mostly dwell in the Xisha islands. Since Sansha City was established, more than 60 companies have registered business there, covering finance, logistics, entertainment, agriculture and fishery.

Yongxing Island, the seat of government and biggest island in Sansha, has now taken the shape of a city. It has an airport, a hospital, sea ports, roads, delivery outlets, restaurants and banks. A primary school broke ground on Yongxing early this year and is expected to be completed next year.

However, infrastructure on other islands is poor, and more is needed to make Sansha both livable and eco-friendly. A number of projects are being completed to aid residents and minimize their environmental impact.

Feng Wenhai, vice mayor of Sansha, said that a waste-water treatment plant with daily capacity of 1,800 tonnes and a waste collection plant that can process 20 tonnes of garbage each day, both on Yongxing Island, will be put into use by October this year to address urban waste pollution.

Garbage on smaller islands will be shipped to Yongxing for treatment after completion of a garbage transport ship by the end of the year.

A desalinator capable of processing 1,000 cubic meters of seawater a day is under construction to ensure supplies of fresh water. The project aims to stop exploitation of underground water on Yongxing by 2015.

Yongxing relies mainly on gasoline and solar power for electricity, and photovoltaic equipment has been installed on many of the smaller islands.

A dynamic maritime monitoring system is also being developed. An environmental protection station was set up on Ganquan Island in February, and similar stations will be built on other islands, said Shi Guoning, head of Sansha's land resources and environmental protection department.

A draft plan for Sansha's ecological protection was completed early this year. Xiao said that implementation of the plan will help more of Sansha City's islands become sea oases.