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Polluting projects rejected or delayed

By Yu Tianyu (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-12 07:44

The Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) had rejected or suspended approval of 14 heavily polluting or high energy-consuming projects by the end of February, since the government set about expanding domestic demand and ensuring economic development amid the financial crisis.

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"The 14 projects are worth 104 billion yuan ($15 billion) in investment in such sectors as chemical, petrochemical, steel and iron production, and coal-fired power generation and papermaking," deputy minister of environmental protection Wu Xiaoqing said at a press conference yesterday.

Wu said that by the end of February, the MEP had received 195 environmental assessment applications and had approved 246 projects worth a total of 970 billion yuan in investment.

Wu added that among the 246 approved projects, 53 related to infrastructure construction, such as for transportation and water, with a total investment of more than 280 billion yuan.

About 210 billion yuan of China's 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package will be earmarked for environmental investment. In addition to this money, the central government had also announced it will increase environmental protection spending by 18.9 percent to reach 123.7 billion yuan in 2009.

Wang Jinnan, director of the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning under the MEP, had said earlier the stimulus money should go toward green investment that reaps environmental benefits.

The MEP remains committed to guiding local governments to approve projects in line with the central government's strategy of ensuring economic development, expanding domestic demand and reforming industrial structures.

"We're definitely not approving heavily polluting, high energy-consuming or resource-intensive projects, while shortening the approval process for projects with limited environmental impacts," Wu said.

All levels of government should include pollution-discharge rates in assessments of the development of regions, industries and enterprises, Wu added. In 2008, the MEP rejected or postponed approval of 156 heavily polluting projects.