Polluting projects rejected or delayed

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.

"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.