The oriental metropolis of Shanghai in east China has launched a three-year action plan under which 70 billion yuan (approximately US$8.44 billion) is expected to be spent on 300 environmental-protection projects in the city.  

Zhang Quan, deputy head of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection, told a high-ranking symposium on urban ecological environment held in Shanghai last Friday that at the same time, the municipality will set aside three percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on protecting the environment in the years to come.

By the time the World Expo is held in Shanghai in 2010, all the main indexes for environmental protection of the city will meet the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), Zhang said.

Zhang told the symposium that they were working out an all-round plan for Shanghai to become an ecologically-friendly city by the year 2020.

Shanghai, with a population of over 16 million, produces 4,400 tons of trash, sewage and 6,500 tons of industrial waste daily. Air pollution remains a thorny problem in the city.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2003)