A GARBAGE disposal fee will be imposed on households and businesses in Shenzhen after being given the go-ahead by the price authority, the sanitation department has revealed.

　　The department did not disclose the exact level of the fee but said the monthly cost of garbage disposal and treatment was now 13.2 yuan (US$1.6) for each household.

　　As the city will follow the polluters-pay principle in charging the fee, it is believed the proposed monthly fee was to cover costs and would remain at 13.2 yuan.

　　A number of other cities have imposed the fee, which ranges between three to eight yuan.

　　The municipal government has for several years been considering plans to charge garbage disposal fees. The revelation of the plan came after Guangzhou announced recently that it would soon charge each family five yuan for garbage disposal.

　　By the end of last year, the city has produced 6,058 tons of garbage each day. Only about 40 percent was detoxified.

　　Garbage treatment and disposal costs have been financed by municipal revenues. The garbage fee would help ease fund shortages in realizing the government's target to detoxify all garbage by 2005.

　　Industrial enterprises will pay the fee according to the actual amount of rubbish they yield.

　　The sanitation department gave an assurance that the fee would not be a big burden for local firms, citing national statistics which showed the fee accounted for only 0.000073-0.2 percent of the output.

　　The department said the fee would not become a financial burden for residents because the proposed fee was only about 0.24 percent of their average income. The unemployed and those earning less than the minimum salary set by the government would be exempt, according to the plan.

　　The department would not give a timetable for the introduction of the fee. But residents would receive the bills soon after the price authority gives the green light. The department is expected to conduct a public hearing to discuss the introduction of the fee.

　　(Lin Min)