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WB, EU offer aid for China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-15 09:01

The World Bank (WB) and European Union (EU) have offered more than 110 million U.S. dollars in loans and grants to help China prevent soil erosion in the country's central and southwestern regions.

The WB's loan of 100 million U.S. dollars and EU's donation of 10 million Euros will go to Yunnan, Guizhou and Hubei provinces and Chongqing Municipality, said Zhu Kaiming, director of the Guizhou Provincial Department of Water Resources.
Guizhou kicked off the six-year project on Friday, which is expected to ease erosion on 1,114.2 square kms of land in 12 counties, Zhu said.

The project also aims to improve the living conditions of local farmers and enhance their awareness of environmental protection and the ecology, Zhu said.

Guizhou was granted a total of 567 million yuan for the project, including 283.5 million from WB's loan and 32.3 million from EU's donation, the remainder will be contributed by the Chinese government, the official said.

Guizhou is one of the Chinese provinces most severely affected by soil erosion. It reports that 73,000 square kms, accounting for 41.5 percent of the total land in the province, has been affected.