China has finished dredging its scenic tourist attraction West Lake in Hangzhou city, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, local officials said Wednesday.

Officials responsible for the project said that the water is now much clearer in the picturesque lake, and the water level is 2.27 meters on average, compared with only 1.65 before the dredging.

A total of 3.4 million cubic meters of silt was removed during the past three years, which cost a total of 231 million yuan (US$28 million).

The lake was first dredged on a large scale back in 1950s, and its water quality, nevertheless, deteriorated over recent years because of local environmental pollution in and around the lake.

The water surface of the lake totals 5.6 square kilometers.

(Xinhua News Agency April 23, 2003)