More than 30 billion yuan (US$3.6 billion) will be invested over the next few years to protect the environment of the Yellow River and its reaches, according to a recent report by Xinhua News Agency.

The Yellow River is the second longest river in China and holds a special place as the country's "mother river." It originates in Northwest China's Qinghai Province and passes through nine provinces, from Southwest China's Sichuan Province to East China's Shandong Province.

Because of soil erosion along its reaches, the river contains large quantities of mud and sand, which makes it look yellow.

Sources from the Yellow River Conservation Committee said that an "unprecedented" plan is under way to plant grass and trees along the banks of the river, the Xinhua report said.

The central government and the government of Shandong Province, where the mouth of the river is located, will invest 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) to build an artificial grassland in the region around the river's mouth over the next several years, the report quoted Li Guoying, director of the committee, as saying.

Covering an area of more than 500,000 hectares (1,235,500 acres), the grassland will be the largest artificial grassland in China, Li said. The government is also planning to inject more than 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) into a plan to build a 150-metre wide shelter belt on both sides of the dikes along the lower reaches of the Yellow River, Li said.

By the time the shelter belt is built, the two sides of the river ranging from Zhengzhou in Central China's Henan Province, to Hekou in Shandong will be covered by trees and grass, according to Li.

(China Daily September 2, 2002)