Another "environmental protection storm". That's what the latest move of the country's environment watchdog chief is being seen as. The State Environment Protection Administration (SEPA) has decided not to approve any new industrial projects in six cities, two counties and five industrial parks (see chart below) in the basins of the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe rivers. The reason: they are already too polluted.

But SEPA Vice-Minister Pan Yue himself is not optimistic about the results and doubts if the move will succeed in turning the "pollution first, disposal later" attitude of local governments on its head.

Industrial projects in China have to get local environment protection bureaus' permission before starting construction. And the bureaus give the green light only after determining that the projects won't harm the environment.

The SEPA move follows a spate of pollution-related crises, especially the algae proliferation in Taihu Lake in East China's Jiangsu Province that created severe drinking water shortage in Wuxi last month, affecting the lives of millions of people. The algae outbreak prompted Premier Wen Jiabao to visit the lake last weekend, and urge that cleaning freshwater lakes and ensuring a stable supply of safe drinking water should be treated as a national priority.

SEPA has done its bit to ensure that. But Pan, known for his frankness, is still worried. "To be frank, I am not optimistic," he said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

This is the second time SEPA has decided to stop granting environmental permission for projects in certain cities. In January, it had announced that no new projects would be approved in four cities and to four power groups. And the results of that decision have been "fairly good". Pan accepts that "overall suspension" could be a bit harsher than routine law enforcement measures. Compared to previous moves of "shutting down" plants that hadn't met the pollution-control standards, the latest step may be a real problem for local officials.

"Now, if you don't check (the polluter), approval to all the other projects will be stopped," he says. "You could lose a billion yuan to save 100 million yuan; you do the math." The new measure may seem to be a more effective way to tackle pollution, but Pan feels it's still mild enough to cause a stir. "But this is the maximum administrative measure SEPA can impose under the existing rules."

Pan has said repeatedly that the pollution level in China has reached a "critical point", and lashed out at "endemic protectionism". He has been seeking help to make the country's much-criticized ineffective pollution control measures into a success story. But, he says, "this is not a problem of a concept (pollution first), it's a problem concerning interests".

Some local officials, whose sole aim is to ensure brisk economic growth to lend a gilt edge to their performance list, have colluded with big companies at the cost of the environment, he says. SEPA inspection teams have been stopped at factory gates by officials even after disclosing their identities. SEPA has also been shocked to see some units reopen after its teams ordered their closures.

The ultimate solution, Pan suggests, is to set up an effective accountability system to identify government officials responsible for polluting the environment further. "Only by changing the GDP-based performance assessment system for officials and punishing those responsible for environmental accidents can we stop the phenomenon (endemic protectionism) and (change) the (pollution first) concept."

Excerpts of the interview with Pan Yue follow:

(China Daily 07/04/2007 page12)