Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, will start its "garden-in-the-air" program this year, the city's Urban Greening Committee has said.

The program, featured by greening the roof of the buildings on both sides of the city's inner ring road, will build "green gardens" above the city and greatly change the city's landscape, said the committee.

The committee entrusted South China Agricultural University to evaluate the feasibility of the project last October. After half a year's investigation and evaluation, findings have shown that 94 out of the 557 roadside buildings are suitable for roof greening, all of which are first-row buildings by the side of the ring road.

With the completion of the project, the city's total roof greening area will reach 60,000 square meters, said the committee.

However, the university also found that only 49 percent of top floor residents fancy the idea of having their roofs decorated.

"I am afraid our life might be affected, because water could seep into my apartment when it rains," said Ms Zhang, a Guangzhou resident.

But experts said residents should not worry about rainwater seepage.

"We have perfect control over the water retained by the plants and there will be no seepage," said one expert.

"In fact, the greenery can help protect the roof surface from harmful ultraviolet sun rays and severe weather, as well as absorb noise and air pollution," he added.

Guangzhou carried out a pilot program of roof greening as early as four years ago and the results were encouraging. Initial estimations show that 12.09 million yuan (US$1.51 million) are needed to complete the project, according to South China Agricultural University.

Guangzhou is the largest city in south China, with a population of over 10 million.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2005)