Tianjin, an industrial city in North China, has endorsed a plan to develop its Haihe River valley with a total investment of 180 billion yuan. Upon completion of the plan, the river valley is expected to be well developed in services and tourism.

The plan covers 72 kilometers of the Haihe River that connects with the northern and southern Grand Canal. It will run through the city's eight districts and empties to the Bohai Bay at Tanggu. The area that comes under the plan expands from 24 to 42 square kilometers, greatly increasing the area of the land that will be used for commercial, service and green purposes.

19.6 billion yuan will be first used to built the urban basic facilities, cultural and environmental projects. The money comes from the long and medium-term loans from the development bank and short-term loans from commercial banks as well as funds raised from society at large. The loans will be paid with money made from land price rises and other profits.

The projects to be undertaken first include water body treatment, embankment transformation, roads, bridges, transportation, greenery, environmental scenes, lights and public buildings.

The project will be divided into two stages. The efforts will focus on the construction of infrastructure in the first stage of 2003-2007 and on all-round development and transformation of the valley in the second stage of 2007-2022. The returns made from the market development will cover the loans.

(www.cenews.com.cn November 11, 2002)