Industrial parks in parts of China have become official sanctuaries for polluting enterprises to dodge inspections by the environmental protection authorities, Xinhua learned on Monday.

Most of the 100 firms in the Luoxin Economic & Industrial Development Zones of Xin'an County, Henan Province, have failed to install pollution disposal facilities, and their waste has been discharged into the Jianhe River, a tributary of the Yellow River.

The situation started in 2002 when the county government mapped out a policy to ban administrative departments from conducting any inspection without its prior approval.

Sources with the State Environmental Protection Administration and the Ministry of Supervision said the measure was originally designed to protect enterprises inside the zone from arbitrary charges. However, in practice, the enterprises took advantage of the policy and shut environmental protection authorities out.

What concerns law enforcement authorities more is that such cases are legion. A report by the Environmental Protection Bureau of east China's Anhui Province reveals that 46 programs under construction in an industrial zone of Fuyang City have not acquired the compulsory prior approval of environmental protection authorities.

"An important reason why enterprises in industrial zones avoid inspections by environmental protection departments is that they receive government protection from environmental protection authorities," a SEPA official who asked not to be identified told Xinhua.

In a joint investigation in September, the SEPA and the Gansu Environmental Protection Bureau found the Non-ferrous Metallurgy Company of Huixian County, one of the first key enterprises under county protection, was a source of water pollution that had made more than 200 villagers ill.

This event, however, failed to cause concern among county authorities. In an effort to drive up the growth of local gross domestic product, some governments continue to use administrative protection to solicit business.

The Suichang County Government, of east China's Zhejiang Province, for instance, has lately approved the second batch of key enterprises under county protection, bringing the total to 50.

One compulsory precondition for such key enterprises is an industrial output of at least 10 million yuan. The county authorities promised in return that no government departments would be allowed to inspect these enterprises without its prior approval.

Doctor Wang Qin, of the Industrial Economic Institute of the China Academy of Social Sciences, said such protection had actually prevented other government departments from carrying out their law enforcement duties.

"The market economy emphasizes the rule of law. Governments must wield their power in line with laws," he said.

Other experts said that such competition was discriminatory and detrimental to fair market competition.

Moreover, such measures reflected the mistaken view of many local government officials who measured development only by GDP, they said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2006)