The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$500,000 technical assistance grant to prepare a project to improve the urban environment in Jiangsu Province of the People's Republic of China.

The planned urban environment project, expected to be backed by an ADB 100 million-dollar loan in the pipeline for 2004, will help Jiangsu develop a natural gas project to reduce pollution levels by demonstrating the efficient use of natural gas in urban and rural areas of the province, the Manila-based ADB said in a statement Friday.

The grant-financed feasibility study will assess the most cost effective pipeline network, the required gas infrastructure, possible use of compressed natural gas, and costs.

The PRC's Tenth Five-Year Plan gives high priority to increasing the share of cleaner natural gas in the primary commercial energy supply mix and major gas infrastructure projects are currently being developed.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2004)