Central China's Henan province has announced a plan to invest 31 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) before 2005 to curb its worsening water and air pollution and soil erosion.

A provincial government official said Tuesday that Henan would earmark 9.9 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) for projects to curb water pollution, which would increase the capacity of waste water treatment in urban areas by about 200 tons per day.

The country's four main rivers - the Yangtze, the Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe Rivers - run through Henan and are among the most polluted waterways in China.

Much of the waste water is discharged into the rivers without treatment.

The province would also inject 17 billion yuan (about two billion dollars) into air pollution control projects, involving efforts to use more clean energy instead of coal, said the official.

Serious air pollution was reported in the province's 16 major cities with airborne fine particles listed as major pollutants.

The province also plans to expand the size of its nature reserves to 435,000 hectares (1,074,885 acres) by 2005.

A leading official with Henan Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau said the province would raise the capital needed for the projects from government funding, bank loans, private and foreign investment, and money paid by polluters according to the " polluter pays" law.

The province has designated 114 environmental projects as priority, involving a total of 12.3 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion).

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2002)