The Xiangbi Mountain scenic area is located on the Lijiang River. [Photo/China News Service]

The integrated protection and renovation project of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grass and sand in Lijiang River Basin has recently kicked off, officials of the Department of Natural Resources of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region announced on Aug 10.

The project from Guilin won national approval in June this year. It will be carried out at a cost of 5.49 billion yuan ($814.92 million) and 2 billion yuan of the total will come from central financing.

It is expected to systematically improve the quality of the ecological environment in three years. The Lijiang River Basin has five counties, one city and six districts, and is planned to be divided into three areas of upstream, midstream and downstream areas, and 83 sub-projects in eight categories are expected to be launched.

An official from Guilin natural resource bureau said that carrying out this project adheres to the urgent demands in turning Guilin into a world-class tourism city.

Guilin plans to devote great efforts to turning the project into a national demonstrative one and striving to build Lijiang River into a world-class example of ecological protection.