The State Forestry Administration has approved a plan to build a state-level wetland park at Bostan Lake, China's largest inland freshwater lake, local authorities said Monday.

With a total investment of 400 million yuan (63.3 million U.S. dollars), the park is estimated to cover 1,573 square kilometers in Bohu county in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said Wang Yong, head of the county's forestry bureau.

The construction work is expected to kick off in mid-April, Wang said.

An ecological conservation zone, scheduled to cover 42 percent of the park's area, is designed to protect wildlife, including birds and water lilies, as well as stand as a place to plant more bulrush, Wang said.

Forestry authorities will install waste water treatment facilities in areas inhabited by birds and grow wetland plants and breed microorganisms to help clean the lake water, Wang said.

Bostan Lake, covering 1,100 square kilometers, is the country's largest production base of organic fish.

Source:english.sepa.gov