Northwest China's Gansu Province plans to invest 1.1 billion yuan in an ecological environmental protection project aiming to curb strong winds and sand storms.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation has loaned 830 million yuan (12.4 billion yen), and the Gansu provincial government will arrange a 276 million yuan auxiliary fund to plant trees and grass.

The project is expected to start next January. A total of 91,071 ha of land in 14 counties and eight state farms along the Gansu corridor will be the focus of the project, said Ji Guorong, deputy director of the provincial agricultural comprehensive development office.

Ji said the project would adopt water preservation measures, readjusting current land-use structure, and planting trees and grass that needed little water.

The Gansu corridor is a major center for sandstorms that plague north China every spring.

The project is expected to increase forest coverage to 9.45 percent from the current 6.04 percent, effectively curbing desertification and decreasing the frequency and strength of sandstorms.

In addition to ecological benefits, the project will produce 315 million yuan of economic profit every year, said Ji.

The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region will also receive loans from the bank to a total of some 1.5 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2003)