China's top environmental official lambasted grassroots authorities Tuesday, saying that serious local protectionism has fostered rampant environmental violations.

"In some places, officials still focus on economic growth and neglect environmental protection," said Zhou Shengxian, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), in a report to the Standing Committee of National Peoples Congress, China's top legislature.

Pollution has become one of the most serious concerns in China and the government has invested billions to upgrade its environmental facilities and increased penalties, but to limited effect.

Zhou criticized local governments for being slow to restructure industries and for constantly approving heavily polluting projects.

"Illegal small chemical plants, paper and leather mills are still being set up. Many outdated technologies, which should have been replaced, are still in use."

The government has shut down more than 40,000 plants and product lines since 2001 for environmental pollution.

However, Zhou said lax law enforcement and inadequate penalties had led to repeated violations. "The failure to abide by the law, lax law enforcement, and allowing law-breakers to go free are still serious problems in many places."

He said some local leaders directly interfered in environmental law enforcement by threatening to remove, demote and retaliate against environmental officials.

Meanwhile, Zhou said environmental agencies at county level were generally understaffed and poorly equipped.

"Some grassroots environmental agencies don't have basic equipment so they often have to use their noses (to smell out pollutants) when accidents happen," Zhou said.

To check local protectionism, the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has announced that environmental protection will be an important index for assessing local officials' performance starting next year.

Zhou told legislators that his administration and the Ministry of Supervision had jointly issued a regulation on administrative penalties for officials who failed their duties in environmental protection.

The administration had also signed responsibility pledges with provincial governments, which listed the environmental protection goals for the 11th five-year plan period (2006-2010). Officials would be denied promotion and even punished if the goals were not achieved.

Investigations have shown that most of China's rivers and lakes are polluted. Almost half the ground water in urban areas is heavily polluted.

Twenty-seven percent of the samples collected from major rivers showed serious pollution. Of 222 drinkable water resources in 113 major Chinese cities, only 72 percent reached national standards.

Source: Xinhua