Clean-up campaign behind schedule

China's
waterways clean-up campaign is falling far behind schedule. a top environmental official
told China Youth Doily. Xie Zhenhua, director of the State Environmental Protection
Administration, said that work had yet to begin on nearly two-thirds of the 1,590 projects that
make up the 'three rivers and three lakes' initiative. Work has been completed on 247
projects and started on an additional 310 projects.
This Ynl23bn scheme was
approved by the State Council in 2001 and involves bring-ing the Huaihe, Flaihe and Liaohe
rivers and the Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi lakes up to national standards by 2005. They are
among the most polluted waterways in the country.