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China's Largest Environmental Protection Program
China launched its largest ever environmental protection program in 1996 to curb worsening industrial pollution nationwide and improve the quality of air and water in the country's 46 major cities. The program is scheduled to be completed this year.
According to the four-year program, the total amount of discharges involving 12 major pollutants should be curbed to designated levels by 2000, and all of the 230,000 polluting industrial firms must meet the industrial pollution discharge standards set by central and local governments this year or face being closed down.
Under the State Council's "Decisions on Some Issues Concerning Environmental Protection," as the program is called, the quality of air and water in residential and industrial districts in 46 major cities must reach the standards set by the central government.
The 46 cities include Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, and provincial capital cities, coastal open cities and cities designated as tourist destinations.
Controlling pollution is a serious matter and top leaders have reiterated the pollution control targets must be met. By the end of June this year, 210,900 of all the 238,000 industrial firms across China were up to state requirements, accounting for 88.4 percent of the total.
But only 78.9 percent of China's key polluting firms, usually large state-owned large plants, have met the targets, while only 66 percent of the top 620 state-owned firms are up to the standards.
The 210 key state-owned firms which are yet to meet the pollution control targets involve metallurgical, chemical, coal-mining, non-ferrous metals and paper-making industries.
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