China will add 36 pollution control projects with an investment of nearly 1.8 billion yuan (US$26.3 million) for pollution control in Songhua River Basin in the northeastern Jilin Province, according to a provincial official Wednesday.

With the additional investment, the number of anti-pollution projects in the basin -- which include sewage treatment plants, factory emission reduction and silt dredging -- increases to 124 projects from 86 in 2006, said Wang Linxi, deputy director of the Jilin provincial environment protection department.

Jilin earmarked 5 billion yuan in 86 projects when the country started a five-year plan to curb pollution in the basin in 2006. More than 3 billion yuan has been spent in the projects since then.

Among the 86 projects, 30 have been completed, 55 are under construction and the other was abandoned because an involved factory that was closed down, according to Wang.

Jilin has promised to fulfill the projects and new ones by the end of next year.

The Songhua River was seriously polluted when 100 tons of benzene-related pollutants flowed into the river after a chemical plant explosion in Jilin city on the upper reaches of the river in 2005.

The contamination forced Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province, to temporarily suspend water supply to 3.8 million people. It also raised concerns in Russia as the river empties into the Heilongjiang River that divides China and Russia.

(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2009)