Beijing plans to invest 3.2 billion yuan (US$385.5 million) in constructing 15 garbage disposal projects during the 2004-2008 period, according to a senior municipal official.

Based on the planned projects, Beijing will be able to dispose of 98 percent of its consumer wastes in an environmentally friendly way by 2008, when the city will host the Olympic Games, said Chen Wenzhan, head of the municipal administration committee.

More than 80 percent of the investment will come from businesses, Chen added.

During the past two years, Beijing's input in sanitation amounted to more than 500 million yuan (US$60.2 million).

Every day the city produces an average of 11,500 tons of consumer wastes, which are disposed of by 17 garbage treatment stations. Last year, 91.3 percent of consumer wastes were treated in an environmentally friendly manner. The ratio is predicted to reach 93 percent this year.

Chen said the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) last year brought medical waste treatment to the attention of the municipal government. By 2005, the city will build two centralized medical waste treatment projects and increase its daily disposal capacity of such garbage by 63 percent from the 2003 level to 650,000 tons, according to Chen.

Before 2008, Beijing also plans to build four garbage treatment centers exclusively for restaurants. Two of them are expected to be completed by the end of this year, Chen said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2004)