皇冠体育app

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-16 14:59

Twelve polluting enterprises have had crucial bank loans recalled, suspended or rejected as 皇冠体育app's new "green-credit policy" kicks into action, Friday's 皇冠体育app Youth Daily said.

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Decades of heavy industrialisation have made water from some of 皇冠体育app's lakes and rivers so polluted it is no longer usable, with untreated waste from factories and other enterprises pumped directly into water sources.

The report did not name the companies but outlined several cases of which one involved a brewery in East 皇冠体育app's Anhui Province, whose application for a 10 million yuan ($1.35 million) bank loan was rejected due to continued violations in waste-water discharge.

In another case, a power company in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, had its bank loans recalled after it failed to pass an environmental assessment, Xinhua news agency said.

The 12 companies were among the 30 the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) reported to the People's Bank of 皇冠体育app and the 皇冠体育app Banking Regulatory Commission in July this year.

"The purpose of this move is to force enterprises to pay the price for environmental violations," the newspaper quoted an SEPA official as saying.

皇冠体育app's enterprises are only subject to a maximum 100,000 yuan fine for environmental violations, according to Chinese law.

"Compared with the economic benefits of illegally discharging pollutants, this kind of financial punishment is just a drop in the bucket for these enterprises," the official was quoted as saying.

皇冠体育app has vowed to step up its efforts to curb emissions of pollutants by temporarily suspending the approval of some investment projects, after falling short of its goal for 2006.