China seeks to take control of the situation with the deterioration of soil pollution by 2020, and to stabilize and improve soil quality by 2030.

The Central government will establish a special Fund to address problems of soil pollution, as well as a separate Fund to help upgrade technology and equipment in the sector of heavy metals, stated the Cabinet of Ministers on its web site.

The government will also continue to remove obsolete equipment in the sector of heavy metals.

Last year, the Minister of the environment reported that 16% of the soil in China has exceeded government limits on pollution. The cost of purification of soil from heavy metals and chemical contamination is high, and China have experienced difficulties in attracting private funds for these purposes.

According to calculations of Reuters, the cost of purification of all contaminated land in China is suitable for crops or livestock, will be approximately 5 trillion yuan ($760 billion) based on industry estimates of the average cost of purification per hectare.

Analysts suggested that the market cleanse the soil can cost whole 1 trillion yuan, but authorities are trying to determine who should pay for the rehabilitation of contaminated soils. A large part of the responsibility for the costs now imposed on impoverished regional authorities.

Researchers Guohai Securities reported in the beginning of the year that is currently in China well under way 100 key projects for the purification of soil, the estimated total cost of 500 billion yuan. Without the motivation of profit for private companies of the program of purification of the soil depend mainly on budget funding.

The five-year plan of China, published in March, it was said that the country will give priority to the purification of contaminated soil used in agriculture. The plan also promised to strengthen the system of monitoring of pollution of the soil and promote new purification technology.

Legislators said during the annual parliamentary session in March that the country by next year will introduce legislation that will help to combat soil contamination.

Source: Thomson Reuters