Taiwan business people on the mainland have reacted enthusiastically to a unique new environment-friendly investment opportunity.

In return for a three-year effort to reverse desertification and improve the environment of an area of land, the investor will then be given a 50-year lease to use the land for commercial purposes, provided tough environment standards are met.

Over 10,000 hectares of wasteland near Da'an in northeast China's Jilin Province have been earmarked for the project.

The fee for the land is 6,000 yuan (US$740) per hectare.

To ensure a return on the investment, as well as a standard environment protection subsidy, 5 percent of the land can be used for commercial purposes.

"This is the first time Taiwan investors have been engaged in the mainland's environmental protection efforts," said Luo Hongbin, director of the Council for Taiwan Businessmen under the China Society for Promotion of the Guangcai Programme, a project by private entrepreneurs to help alleviate poverty.

He was confident that "this would help update the image of Taiwan businessmen on the mainland, and help them develop their businesses."

During a launch ceremony held at the State Forestry Administration (SFA) in Beijing, officials confirmed that so far 127 Taiwan business people living on the mainland have been granted such land-use certificates.

"This is one of the best land investment offers I've ever encountered," investor Chin-Nen Huang said.

"I'm to turn about 667 hectares of wasteland into a big farm growing grass for livestock," he said.

(China Daily May 18, 2006)