China's environment watchdog plans to resume assessments on a
batch of new projects in some pollution-hit areas after its
two-month crackdown on environmental violations proved effective, a
senior environmental official said on Monday.
Since early July, the Environmental Protection Administration
has suspended assessments on new projects in six cities, two
counties and five industrial parks along the Yellow River, Huaihe
River, Haihe River and Yangtze River as the water was found to be
heavily polluted, said Pan Yue, vice director of the
administration.
"Suspension of the assessments shows the country's determination
to adjust industry structure in these areas," Pan said.
The administration had "cleared up" 1,162 illegal companies and
projects by Aug. 17, among which 400 were shut down, 249 were
suspended from production and 102 were ordered to treat pollution
before a deadline, Pan said.
The companies paid a total of 725 million yuan (US$96 million)
as pollution discharge fees and 7.87 million yuan in fines, Pan
said.
The administration also scrapped 112 illegal policies issued by
local governments to promote industrial restructuring in
pollution-hit areas, Pan said.
"Some local policies violated the environmental protection
regulations, so it's a key target to scrap such policies," Pan
said.
China faces a mounting crisis in providing clean water. Massive
blue-green algae growths were reported on Taihu Lake and Chaohu
Lake in east China and in Dianchi Lake in southwest China in May
and June endangering the supply of local tap water.
(Shanghai Daily September 4, 2007)
