Northeastern China's Liaoning Province will temporarily close eight paper-making enterprises for technical renovations on April 20 in order to cut pollutant discharge.

The provincial environmental protection bureau announced the decision during a press conference on Tuesday, China News Service reported.

These enterprises are taking the lead over 420 Liaoning paper-makers because they discharge about 90 percent of the total pollutants drained off by the industry. They failed to meet the prescribed standards for pollutant discharge, although in the past few years, these standards have been enforced several times.

That is the first measure taken by local authorities this year to fight pollution and clean up the environment, Yang Zhe, the deputy director of the environmental protection bureau, said.

Yang Zhe told reporters that paper-making accounts for only 0.4 percent of gross industrial output value, but it remains the major source of pollution in Liaoning. The local government is determined to phase out about 200 paper- making enterprises that are unable to meet the standards for environmental protection. Enterprises that cannot finish pollution treatment tasks in certain periods will be shut down.

The Liaoning Environmental Protection Bureau has designated 2008 as the year of environmental law enforcement.

(CRI April 16, 2008)