China has decided to allocate 500 million yuan (US$73 million) from the central fiscal for rural environment treatment, the Ministry of Environment Protection said on Friday.

The fund would help save 600 villages out of severe environment problems and award 100 others which play exemplary roles in ecology. The program would directly benefit 4 million people, the ministry said.

The money would be mainly used to address problems of drinking water contamination in rural areas and pollution arising from household livestock raising, and to build polluted water treatment facilities.

The ministry said the money was being distributed to rural areas, which was expected to stimulate another 100 million yuan of local rural environment investment.

(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2008)