China plans to honor a number of national environment-friendly projects to promote awareness of environmental protection, said Pan Yue, vice minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

The candidates should be engineering projects that have been completed as of July 31, 2005, within a span of no more than 3 years, Pan said.

China has enacted the Law on Assessment of Environmental Impacts and the Provisions on the Management of Environmental Protection for Engineering Projects. But many owners have only attached importance to the examination and approval of the environmental assessment, rather than taking environmental protection into consideration when projects are built and go into operation.

Once granted the title of "Environment-friendly Project," it is expected that these projects will become models of environmental protection, according to the official.

He said a special board comprised of officials, experts and journalists will be set up for appraisal work.

(Xinhua News Agency August 17, 2005)