The Japan Bank for International Cooperation will provide a loan totaling 681.59 million yuan (US$82.41 million) for sewage treatment projects in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north China, in the coming four years.

Relevant departments of China will offer a complementary fund of 233.16 million yuan (US$28.19 million) for constructing four sewage treatment plants and waste water discharge pipelines and other facilities, and for renovation of 150 kilometers of pipelines for discharging rainwater in the regional capital Hohhot, according to an agreement signed between the Japanese bank and the Chinese Ministry of Finance recently.

Upon completion of these projects in 2008, 90 percent of Hohhot city's waste water will be treated and used for other purposes.

Currently, Hohhot generates 230,000 tons of waste water daily, only 43.5 percent of which is treated.

China has set a target to have 70 percent of waste water treated in provincial and autonomous regional capitals by 2010, for the purpose of improving urban environment.

(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2004)