Light rail transit systems will be built in Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan, Hunan province, its Governor Zhou Qiang said yesterday.

"They will be developed over the next three years," he told reporters at a press conference at the Beijing International Media Center.

Expressways linking the three cities will also be built to reduce travel times between them, he said.

Also, a number of intercity rail lines will be developed to link Changsha to other domestic economic hubs, he said.

Also at yesterday's press conference, Zhang Jianfei, mayor of Changsha, the capital of Hunan, said the city will launch an emissions trading scheme within the next two years to help tackle pollution.

Dust, chemical oxygen demand and sulfur dioxide will all be traded, he said.

Last year, the central government designated Changsha, Zhuzhou and Xiangtan as an experimental zone for energy-saving and green technologies.

The zone, which has previously brought severe pollution to the Xiangjiang River, has seen more initiatives to rein in the pollution, Zhang said.

"We will punish any district or county that fails to meet its quota under the new system to make them think more about environmental protection and energy conservation," Zhang said.

Under the scheme, companies producing fewer emissions than others will be allowed to store their excess capacity for future use or trade it with firms that fail to meet their targets, he said.

Similar schemes are already in operation in several cities across the country.

(China Daily August 6, 2008)