About 1,300 billion yuan (US$157 billion) is needed for future environmental protection, an environment official predicted yesterday.

The amount for the planned 2006-10 five-year plan is a huge jump from the investment needed for the period of the 10th Five-Year Plan, estimated to be 700 billion yuan (US$84.6 billion).

But Chen Bin, vice-head of the Planning and Financing Department under the State Environmental Protection Administration, admitted that the targeted sum for investment from 2001-05 will not be met.

By the end of 2002 only about 28 percent of the 229.7 billion yuan (US$27.8 billion) planned for key pollution control projects has been realized.

Actual investment

Despite the rise in the last two years, Chen said the actual investment will not exceed 70 percent of the planned total by the end of the year.

Priority will be given to capacity building for environment supervision and management, the treatment of hazardous waste and urban sewage and rubbish, as well as desulphurization of coal-burning power plants, according to Chen.

Investment will also be allocated to build national zones for protecting ecological functions, upgrading the management capacity of national nature reserves and harnessing radioactivity.

Chen made the announcement at a two-day international seminar on financing environmental protection in China, which opened yesterday in Beijing.

Chen and his colleagues are currently preparing for the drafting of the country's five-year plan for environmental protection during the period 2006-10.

Experts forecast

They forecast that investment in environmental protection during the period will account for 1.4 to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over the same period.

According to Chen, a nation in a stage of rapid economic development needs to allocate 1 to 1.5 percent of its GDP to getting pollution under effective control.

But only when investment in environmental protection reaches 3 percent of GDP can a country improve its environment quality noticeably.

At yesterday's seminar, Xia Guang, director of the administration's Policy Research Centre, suggested the government offer help to small and medium-sized companies with their financing for pollution control.

According to Xia, such companies contribute to half of the pollution caused by industrial sectors.

(China Daily March 30, 2005)