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China is to earmark 1.6 billion yuan (US$193 million) from this year's treasury bonds funds to be used next year on building projects to control the sources of shifting sands to the Beijing-Tianjin area.
Yu Guangzhou, vice-minister of the State Development Planning Commission, made this announcement at a recent working conference in this capital city of north China's Hebei province.
Earlier, a project for sand control in this area was launched in 2000 to curb frequent sandstorms in Beijing and its adjacent city Tianjin.
So far, China has invested a total of 5 billion yuan (600 million US dollars) to plant trees and grass and go in for water preservation works in Beijing and Tianjin municipalities, and neighboring Hebei and Shanxi province and Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
The project, however, has made little headway due to scanty rainfalls in the past two years.
Li Yucai, deputy director of State Forestry Administration, said the departments concerned should adopt effective measures to make the most of this year's rainfall.
(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2002)
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