The Chinese government has invested 110 billion yuan (About 13.3 billion US dollars) in the ecological environment protection in West China during the past five years, said Zhang Lijun, vice director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) Friday.

Speaking at the conference on ASIA-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Recycling-based Economy and China's Western Development, Zhang said the Chinese government has invested 850 billion yuan ( about 102.8 billion US dollars) in 60 key projects.

"Quite a large proportion" of the projects are related to the environmental protection in this region, Zhang said.

The western part produces about 20 percent of China's GDP, but releases nearly 30 percent of the total amount of exhaust gas like sulfur dioxide.

He said the industrial structure in western China needs to continue to improve, stressing that the government should cut down the number of factories with high energy consumption and serious pollution.

According to the statistics from the SEPA, by the end of 2004, about 118 million mu (7.9 million hectares) of farmland in western China were returned to forest. About 170 million mu (11 million hectares) of wasteland were replanted. The actions slowed down the desertification in the region, Zhang said.

Zhang said the western China should develop an environment friendly and energy saving economy, instead of the traditional " high energy consumption, high material consumption, high pollution and low production" mode.

Source: Xinhua