China's auditor general on Tuesday said more than 1.54 billion yuan (US$192.5 million) earmarked for environmental protection projects along the Qinghai-Tibetan railway, was free of "serious inappropriate use."

In his state audit report read to the legislature on Tuesday, Li Jinhua, head of the National Audit Office, said the financial statements relating to the environmental protection program along the railway "passed project assessment as almost all investment was put to good use."

In 2005, Li's office launched the audit of the environmental protection projects of the rail line that runs 1,142 kilometers from Golmud in Qinghai Province to Lhasa in Tibet.

The railway begins trial operations on Saturday.

The auditing was based on an investment plan for the Qinghai-Tibet railway construction issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Qinghai-Tibet railway environmental impact evaluation report, which was adopted by the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Water Resources.

The railway builders budgeted 1.54 billion yuan, or 4.6 percent of the total investment of the rail to environmental protection projects.

As of the end of June, 90 million yuan had yet to be spent.

The environmental protection projects included the construction of 33 special passageways that allow wild animals to cross the railway.

By June 2005, all the passageways had been completed.

(Xinhua News Agency June 28, 2006)