Polluting businesses will be targeted during a three-month national blitz aimed at protecting public health, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) announced yesterday.

The SEPA carried out similar nationwide investigations in 2002 and 2001, punishing businesses that broke the law and shutting down their polluting activities.

However, a SEPA investigation team earlier this year found that polluters were back in business, the administration's vice-minister Wang Jirong said yesterday during a news conference.

Some local governments, in pursuit of economic development, have even illegally introduced industrial projects that can lead to serious pollution, she added.

The campaign has been jointly launched by SEPA, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Supervision, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Justice and the State Administration for Safe Production Supervision.

It will target projects that breach environmental management rules or use outdated techniques and products as well as regions where people's health is harmed by polluting industries.

Polluters will be publicly named and shamed during the campaign. Local governments and relevant departments will also be punished if they overlook the illegal discharge of pollutants.

Enterprises will be encouraged to restructure and adopt cleaner production methods that do not harm the environment.

China enacted the Law on the Promotion of Clean Production on January 1.

Zhou Changyi, deputy director of the NDRC's department of environment and resources, said the commission will take a series of measures to promote clean production and develop regulations to better implement the new law.

Meanwhile, China's top legislators yesterday also called for more efforts to protect the environment.

Despite increasing investment in environmental protection, China still faces challenges dealing with mounting solid waste, said Sheng Huaren, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC). Sheng made the remarks yesterday in a report to the third meeting of the NPC Standing Committee on waste disposal.

He said solid waste from China's industrial sector weighed heavily on the environment.

(China Daily June 26, 2003)