China will build garbage collection and transportation facilities in 10,000 villages across the country by 2010 in order to improve sanitation conditions in the countryside, according to a plan issued in Beijing Thursday.

According to the State Environmental Protection Administration's (SEPA) action plan on environmental protection in rural regions, villages covered in the plan will gather and dispose of residents' garbage in designated dumps.

The action also sets goals for building sewage treatment facilities in 10,000 villages.

SEPA officials said the government will launch more programs in the rural regions in the next five years to deal with pollution caused by commercial activities, as well as soil pollution and rehabilitation.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2006)