Qinghai commits to green economy

Qinghai province has ruled out a number of environmentally unfriendly projects at an annual investment and trade fair to show its commitment to a green economy, said Gu Guoquan, deputy director of the province's economic commission.

Gu made the remarks over the weekend before the opening of the 13th Qinghai Green Economy Investment and Trade Fair, an annual event to boost investment and trade for this resource-rich province.

The fair will conclude on June 13.

The excluded projects involve heavy resource consumption and heavy pollution.

The move has reduced the value of planned contracts by more than 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) to a total value this year of 150.9 billion yuan said Gu.

However, the 211 planned projects this year still exceed the value of last year's 259 contracts, which were worth 150.2 billion.

Among these projects, some mega projects like two photovoltaic power stations - one by China Datang Corporation and the other by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group - have already been completed.

This year's key projects involve new energy and new material industries, according to Gu.

"Qinghai's economy used to be propped up by resource-based industries. We want to use this opportunity to promote the agricultural, tourism and cultural sectors, and that's the feature of this year's fair," Gu said.

zhengyangpeng@chinadaily.com.cn