China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) said Tuesday that it had ordered the halt of construction of 30 large projects that failed to meet environmental standards.

Twenty-six of the projects were hydropower stations, thermal-power plants and other power projects including two at the Three Gorges area, said Pan Yue, SEPA��s vice director.

��The projects were halted because they failed to pass environmental impact assessments according to the country��s laws and regulations,�� he said, adding that the projects posed considerable threats to the environment.

The 26 projects are power plants being planned in 12 different provinces, part of a rush to boost the nation��s generating capacity amid severe electricity shortages, many of them expansions of existing coal-fired plants.

But others are new projects. One is a cardboard factory. Two are roads. Many of the projects had not complied with requirements for environmental impact assessments or other authorizations, the SEPA said on its Web site in ordering a work stoppage.

Pan said some might be allowed to resume but that others would be canceled.

Late last year, the government said it was stepping up controls on investment in power plants, saying many were being launched without legal approval.

Three of the largest projects stopped by the SEPA are under the aegis of the Three Gorges Project Development Corp., the company responsible for constructing the Three Gorges Dam along the Yangtze River.

Two are auxiliary power facilities connected with the dam, the world��s largest hydropower project, while the third, on the Jinshajiang River, was part of a massive plan to develop the hydropower resources of the upper Yangtze.

Known as the Xiluodu Dam, the Jinshajiang project is part of what is being billed by China as a ��second Three Gorges.��

It was unclear if the suspension of construction pending approval of the Jinshajiang project��s paperwork would deter plans for Xiluodu.

Although China has been rushing to boost generating capacity, officials have said they expect current widespread shortages to ease within a year or two and that the level of investment now will result in capacity far exceeding expected demand.

The government has sought to curb construction of cement and aluminum factories, among a number of industries it says are growing too quickly, risking financial problems later.

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies