SHANGHAI will dredge river, remove illegal structures by the riverside and rebuild sewage and irrigation systems in suburban areas in a major campaign to clean up the waterways.

“The city government has dredged and cleaned the major Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek, but most small tributaries and waterways remain in poor conditions,” vice mayor Jiang Zhuoqing told a meeting yesterday while officially launching the campaign.

Shanghai has a wide stretch of polluted waterways especially in the suburban areas.