The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help foot the bill to
treat pollution in the Songhua River basin in northeast China.
A total of US$1.7 million has been earmarked for the
project.
ADB said it would provide a US$1.104 million grant, while the
Cooperation Fund for the Water Sector, a multi-donor facility
established to help speed up the implementation of ADB's Water
Policy in its developing member countries, will extend US$196,000
in assistance. The rest will be covered by China.
The Songhua River basin is
China's third largest with an area of 557,000 square kilometers and
a population of 62 million.
The technical assistance aims to design a loan project that will
control and manage pollution in the Songhua River basin to improve
the urban environment and quality of life in the surrounding
provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang, according to ADB.
The Songhua River basin is China's third largest with an area of
557,000 square kilometers and a population of 62 million. It has a
large industrial base and agriculture is also well developed. The
Songhua River basin area covers mainly Jilin and Heilongjiang
provinces.
The Songhua River was seriously polluted when 100 tons of
benzene-related pollutants flowed into the river after a chemical
plant explosion in Jilin city on the upper reaches of the river in
2005.
After the accident, the Chinese government focused on the
treatment of leaked pollutants and took active cooperation with
Russia.
The government plans to curb pollution in the tainted river and
make 90 percent of water drinkable by 2010.
The plan includes 222 pollution control projects with a combined
investment of 13.36 billion yuan (US$1.77 billion).
In September this year, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province
shut down 110 polluting enterprises to curb pollution in the
Songhua River basin.
In June, environmental authorities of China and Russia finished
taking samples from Songhua River for quality tests. It was the
first joint operation since China and Russia signed the Joint
Monitoring Plan on Border Rivers in 2006.
(China Daily October 12, 2007)
