Chinese environmental administrator announced Wednesday that it will hold a public hearing April 13 to evaluate the disputed project in Yuanmingyuan, which was widely criticized as damaging to the ecosystem of the former imperial garden.

The hearing will be open to any citizen. Scholars will been invited to express their opinions about the project, which involved lining the Yuanmingyuan lake with a plastic membrane, said Pan Yue, Deputy Administrator of State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA).

This is SEPA's first public hearing since the law on evaluating environmental impact took effect September 2003. According to the law, a public hearing should be held to absorb different opinions before the government officially checking the report on environmental impact if the project has aroused debate about environmental protection.

The SEPA halted the project last week because it did not secured official approval concerning its impact on the natural environment. The project, with an investment of 200 million yuan (about 24.2 million US dollars), started in September 2004 and is scheduled to finalize in mid April this year.

Yuanmingyuan, the emperor's private pleasure garden, was founded in the early 18th century and was once known as "Versailles of the East." British and French infantry overran the site in 1860.

The newly banned project would have installed plastic sheeting at the bottom of the lake in the garden to prevent water evasion. But it has evoked wide criticism for stopping the natural water recycling process and reducing the lake's self-cleaning capability.

According to the garden's administration, the project originally aimed to protect the water of the 133-hectare lake from seeping too quickly. A year ago, aquatic activities in the garden was suspended for the first time in history because the lake is running dry due to worsening drought.

In recent years, the garden's lake remained dry for seven months each year, leading to death of large amount of water life forms and vegetation. In order to keep the lake water flowing, the administration had to put water three times a year into the lake but the infusion effort may be reduced to just once a year if the membrane layer is positioned.

Pan Yue said that the public hearing will not only discuss the environmental impact of the project, but also will involve its possible influence on historical and archaeological values.

Since 1980s when China began its opening up policy, the increasing environmental pollution has become a major challenge to the country's sustainable development although its economy has made a remarkable progress.

In recent years, Chinese governments at all levels have taken more measures to improve the environmental protection. The SEPA has publicly banned some state-funded huge projects for their ignorance of environmental impact evaluation in early this year.

Source: Xinhua