The US-based Jins's Investment Corporation plans to invest 200 million yuan (US$24.1 million) in a 1.5-billion-yuan ecological protection project in Songjiang District as part of the local government's endeavor to raise funds for environmental protection programs.

As a preliminary step, the company has helped plant 100,000 trees along the Huangpu River in Songjiang.

The project is aimed at maintaining sustainable development along the upper reaches of the river.

Environmentalists at a seminar on environment and economics held last Saturday endorsed the plan, which is currently awaiting government approval before it kicks off.

"To attract investment from abroad and the folks to fund environmental protection programs will bring out a win-win solution for investors and the country," said Qu Geping, chief of the China Environmental Protection Fund.

Project designers plan to set up a 280-hectare demonstration area complete with waste disposal plants, water conservation forests and environment-friendly residential complexes to form a self-sufficient ecological sphere.

The biosphere will be managed by investors who expect to earn an 18 percent return on their investments.

They will also apply globally advanced new technologies to the project, such as microbiological treatment of garbage and breathing building materials.

"Application of the new technologies saves money in the long run," according to Chen Yuqun, an expert attending the seminar.

The upper reaches of the Huangpu River in Songjiang provide 50 percent of water supply in the city and has been designated as an ecological protection zone by the local government.