Nearly half of the funds set aside for environmental protection on the mainland are wasted by officials, often on vanity projects that end up causing more harm than good, a senior government expert says.
Wang Jinnan, deputy director of the Ministry of Environmental Protection's Academy For Environmental Planning, told People's Daily that officials often complained that a shortage of funds was the biggest obstacle to environmental protection.
But since 2006 there had been a surge of funding and this would probably double in the next five-year plan, Wang told the newspaper at the 13th World Lake Conference in Wuhan last week. 'But how much of the money is used to clean up the pollution and improve the environment? If we squeeze it, more than 40 per cent will be lost,' he said.
In June, Wu Xiaoqing, deputy minister of environmental protection, said the mainland's total investment in environmental protection next year would reach 1.4 trillion yuan (HK$1.59 trillion). According to Wang's calculations, this would mean more than 500 billion yuan could be wasted each year.
Wang said government officials piled funds into unnecessary and extravagant 'face projects'. These included enormous recreational squares, lawns and even golf courses alongside polluted rivers that were supposed to be cleaned up. The projects not only failed to tackle the pollution, but could lead to further environmental damage, he said.
Tsinghua University researcher Chang Miao told the forum that 'face projects' were a waste of taxpayers' money.
'In some areas, waste-water treatment plants look huge and grandiose. With the money that was wasted [on unnecessary buildings and decoration], we could build another waste treatment plant,' she told People's Daily.
