The World Bank has offered help to clean up some of China’s old mines.

It has pledged $100 million (£64m) to clean up coal from an old mining area in Huainan Municipality in western China.The area has suffered from subsidence and environmental damage, the money will be used to clean it up and turn it into a park.

The Huainan Area Rehabilitation Project will cover an area of 200 square kilometres, roughly 7% of the land in the province.

It will be used to improve drainage, plant vegetation, improve roads and help create a park with a visitors centre for around 200,000 local people.

World Bank Senior Water Resources Management Specialist Xiaokai Li said: “By applying international good practices in remediation and redevelopment of mining subsidence areas, we hope to help the Huainan Municipal Government redevelop the mining area into a ‘green heart’ for the city to benefit the local communities.”