Shanghai is determined to clean up its air and water, city officials promised yesterday.

To improve local air quality, the city will force 117 charcoal-burning factories and transportation facilities to either use cleaner fuels or shut down by 2005, officials said yesterday.

The idea is to create a 150,000-square-meter charcoal-free zone within the Inner-Ring Road.

To clean up local waterways, the city says it will treat 70 percent of discharged wastewater by 2005 and 80 percent by 2010.

Currently, only about 63 percent of wastewater is treated before being discharged into local streams and rivers.

The efforts are part of the second phase of the city's Three-Year Environment Protection Action launched at the beginning of this year, the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau said yesterday.

The city also hopes to significantly reduce the amount of dust in the air, said Xu Zuxin, the bureau's director.

Currently, Shanghai's index of poisonous gases, such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, is far better than many big cities in the world, but suspended particles, especially above the main streets, are more serious, according to the Shanghai Environment Monitoring Center.

Starting next year, soil exposed directly to the air - such as soil along the ring road greeneries and earth dug up at local construction sites - will be covered to reduce air pollution within the city's Inner-Ring Road, Xu said.

Trucks hauling dirt along local streets must be sealed beginning next year to prevent dust from falling and spreading during transportation, she added.

To make waterways clearer, Shanghai spent 4.1 billion yuan (US$494 million) in the last three years to improve the mid-sized and small waterways.

The city also announced that 4.18 million square meters of grass and forests have been planted along Shanghai's rivers.

(eastday.com September 17, 2003)