Shanghai is to invest more than 3 percent of its gross domestic product on environmental protection under the city's new three-year environmental protection plan.

The plan was launched on September 16 and is the second of its kind to be implemented by the city government. It involves nearly 200 projects and covers water and air pollution and the planting of trees and grass.

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said environmental work in the city should contribute to the improvement of the city's layout, industrial restructuring, city management and the upgrading of local residents' living standards.

The East China city will try to become a model for big Chinese cities in terms of solving pollution problems, he told a conference on promoting environmental protection.

The September 16 conference was the first held by the city government's newly established environmental protection co-ordination and promotion committee.

Xie Zhenhua, minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration, is one of five environmental protection advisers to Shanghai.

Han, also director of the committee, said a long-term system for developing environmental protection in Shanghai should be established. The city's first three-year environmental protection plan was implemented from 2000 to 2002.

(China Daily October 8, 2003)