China's State
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) said Saturday
that 26 of the 30 large projects it halted construction on a month
ago could be resumed.
The buildings have passed environmental impact assessment, said
Zhu Xingxiang, division chief of the environmental impact
evaluation department of SEPA. The remaining four projects include
two power generators at the Three Gorges Project and the main part
of a hydropower station at Xiluodu on Jinsha River, another name
for the upper reaches of the Yangtze.
"We are still studying the reports regarding the environmental
impact evaluation of the above two big power projects, but insist
more reference materials should be submitted over source of water
in constructing a third power plant in north China's Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region," said Zhu. He declined to comment on the fourth
project postponed project.
SEPA ordered a halt on construction on Jan. 18. The projects,
mostly hydropower stations, thermal-power plants and other power
projects, were considered to have failed to meet environmental
standards.
(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2005)