Domestic and overseas investors who are willing to invest in growing trees or grass by reclaiming wasteland in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will enjoy favorable policies.

The remote Chinese region has worked out preferential policies including the exemption of land using fees to attract more investors to start up ecological ventures in Xinjiang, said sources from the regional bureau of land and resources.

According to the sources, the land use rights will remain unchanged for 50 years, and investors can be allowed to use 20 percent to 30 percent of the reclaimed land for lucrative businesses.

The land use rights can be transferred, rented, mortgaged or inherited and the term for the reclaimed land use rights can be extended upon expiry.

With a territory of 1.66 million square km, Xinjiang is the largest provincial-level region in China. The mineral-rich region is divided by three major mountain ranges and two basins, where 25percent of the land is desert.

It borders Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2003)