China will actively expand the financing channel toward environmental
protection in coming five years, according to an environmental
official Thursday.
In addition to
governmental investment, the major source of environmental
funds, China will encourage enterprises, the private sector
and overseas capital to invest in environmental infrastructure
construction, management and industrial pollution control,
said Wang Yaoxian, vice director of the planning and financing
department under the State Environmental Protection Administration.
Speaking at a workshop
on China's environmental financing policy, Wang said that
China is working on the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) for
the environment. Increasing environmental investment is an
important measure to realize China's future goal of environmental
protection.
A lack of funds
has been a long-term problem restricting China' s development
of environmental protection. China's environmental investment
only accounted for 0.72 percent of GDP from 1986 to 1990,
and 0.8 percent of GDP from 1991 to 1995. The ratio increased
to around 1 percent from 1996 to 1999.
Experts predict
that China's environment could not be radically improved unless
the ratio is above 1.3 percent, which means a huge investment
in pollution control.
China will face
a sharp contradiction between supply and demand of environmental
funds. A multi-channel environmental financing system needs
to be set up in China to meet the demands of environmental
protection and economic development, Wang stressed.
The three-day workshop
was jointly sponsored by the State Environmental Protection
Administration and the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development, aiming to offer the Chinese government advice
on environmental financing.
(21dnn.com 11/24/2000)
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