A plan for achieving ecological balance in the Pearl River Delta is expected to be completed within the year, said a spokesman for the Guangdong provincial government.

The spokesman said the provincial government intends to cooperate with the State Environmental Protection Administration in producing three plans on environmental protection in the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong Province, and the greater region covering Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

He said a panel of over 30 specialists have been invited to work on the plan in the Pearl River Delta, and the China Environmental Planning Institute has been put in charge of drawing up the plan.

After conducting investigative tours of nine cities within the Pearl River Delta, where the economy is the most advanced in the country as a result of processing trade, the specialists concluded that pollution had become quite serious amid rapid economic development over the past two decades and needed to be addressed immediately.

It is estimated that the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of the delta will reach US$7,000 by the year 2010, and will surge to US$12,000 by 2020. By then, the region will step into a new round of rapid economic growth.

Specialists have suggested that recycling be introduced into economic development and urban construction in the Pearl River Delta, and that efforts be made to turn the delta into a network of ecologically balanced cities in 20 to 30 years

(China Daily September 3, 2003)