The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help foot the bill to treat pollution in the Songhua River basin in northeast China.

A total of US$1.7 million has been earmarked for the project.

ADB said it would provide a US$1.104 million grant, while the Cooperation Fund for the Water Sector, a multi-donor facility established to help speed up the implementation of ADB's Water Policy in its developing member countries, will extend US$196,000 in assistance. The rest will be covered by China.

The technical assistance aims to design a loan project that will control and manage pollution in the Songhua River basin to improve the urban environment and quality of life in the surrounding provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang, according to ADB.

The Songhua River basin is China's third largest with an area of 557,000 sq km and a population of 62 million. It has a large industrial base and agriculture is also well developed. The Songhua River basin area covers mainly Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.

The Songhua River was seriously polluted when 100 tons of benzene-related pollutants flowed into the river after a chemical plant explosion in Jilin city on the upper reaches of the river in 2005.

After the accident, the Chinese government focused on the treatment of leaked pollutants and took active cooperation with Russia.

The government plans to curb pollution in the tainted river and make 90 percent of water drinkable by 2010.

The plan includes 222 pollution control projects with a combined investment of 13.36 billion yuan (US$1.77 billion).

In September this year, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province shut down 110 polluting enterprises to curb pollution in the Songhua River basin.

In June, environmental authorities of China and Russia finished taking samples from Songhua River for quality tests. It was the first joint operation since China and Russia signed the Joint Monitoring Plan on Border Rivers in 2006.

(China Daily October 12, 2007)