The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide funding for a project to improve China's water management system, sources from the bank said on October 18, 2007.

      Wang Jianguo, a senior project officer with the ADB, said the project, named Policy Study on Market-Based Instruments for Water Pollution Control, will help the country achieve its water pollution control target more effectively and efficiently.

      Wang Xin, an official with the State Environmental Protection Administration of China, which will be responsible for the project, said it will be launched by the end of the year.

      The scheme will play two roles in water pollution management.

       The first is to force major polluters to internalize the environmental costs they have previously imposed on the public.

       The second is to reduce overall pollution control costs through market-based allocation of resources, Wang said.

       The ADB will provide a $500,000 grant for the project, which is estimated to cost $650,000. The government will fund the rest.