Six captive pandas in quake-hit Sichuan Province could get new homes in a tourist resort in east China's Zhejiang Province in October, the local government said on Wednesday.

The move is part of the efforts to find suitable new homes for pandas from the Wolong base of the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center of Sichuan, which was ravaged by the May 12 earthquake last year.

The six will be moved to the Changyu Dongtian resort, a group of 1,500-year-old natural caves in Wenling City, if the plan is approved by the State Forestry Administration, according to Lu Zhiling, head of the tourism bureau of Wenling.

The city government plans to invest 58 million yuan (US$8.53 million) to build the 19-hectare residential compound.

(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2009)