For failing to meet environment impact assessment (EIA) targets eight construction projects have been blacklisted by China's environmental watchdog.  

The move came as the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) wrapped up its first round of investigations into the EIAs of 2,453 projects approved to go-ahead during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05).

Luliang Coking Plant in north China's Shanxi Province, the worst offender, built coking ovens in 2003 and 2004 with a total annual production capacity of 600,000 tons.

The inspection found the plant hadn't undertaken an EIA. It also failed to build the required treatment facilities for wastewater that was being discharged into a local river running into the Yellow River.

The plant hadn't built the required coal gas purification system and ground dust removal station. Two other newly built ovens which went through EIA testing failed.

The coking plant has been ordered to suspend operations. It'll be given limited time to bring operations up to standard and if not it'll face further punishment, SEPA said.

Another infamous project on the blacklist is the first and second phases of Shanghai's outer ring road. The project was criticized in 2004 by SEPA for failing to build sound-proofing on the first phase. The problem hasn't been solved and the second phase, completed in 2003, also lacked effective noise control.

"High energy consumption and seriously polluting projects have been launched blindly by local governments in recent years," said the SEPA spokesman. "The main reason is that local governments pursue fast economic growth but neglect the price of environmental destruction. They did not support the EIA."

SEPA said the full inspection results would be made public by the end of this year.

The other six blacklisted enterprises are: Zhanhua Power Plant and Shandong Haihua Co Ltd in east China's Shandong Province; Jiangyou Power Plant in southwest China's Sichuan Province; Tangshan Power Plant in north China's Hebei Province; a section of the Yongjin Highway in east China's Zhejiang Province and part of the highway from Qingdao in Shandong Province to Yinchuan in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

(China Daily October 13, 2006)