Jinghua Times 18 May 2005

XIA MINGQUN

Yesterday, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) declared that an environmental impact assessment committee for the Old Summer Palace has been established and that an agreement has been signed between the Palace administration and Qinghua University. The committee will evaluate the ongoing project of fitting the lake with an impermeable plastic membrane to avoid leakage.

According to Qinghua University Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, a multidisciplinary expert evaluation group has been formed to ensure assessment impartialness and scientific value, and SEPA has set a deadline for the report. The committee ensured that they will undertake the assessment task bearing their responsibility to society and the environment in mind.

Meanwhile, Beijing Normal University yesterday said that they had already been in contact with SEPA, and apologized for delaying the evaluation through a belated reply to the Palace administration office. However, the University assured that they would assist Qinghua Universtiy to the best of their ability to help ensure a good quality report.

SEPA vice director, Mr. Pan Yue, yesterday praised Qinghua University's leadership and Beijing Normal University's valuable assistance in the environmental impact assessment work.

In addition:

Pan Yue: Present system limits force of law

Vice director of SEPA, Mr. Pan Yue, said yesterday that the serious environmental situation had caused problems in the environmental assessment work, and that it is also imperative that China's environmental laws and regulations be revised. Under the current environmental administrative system, enforcement of environmental laws is hampered because of double department leadership and regional protectionism.

Director of Qinghua University Institute heads evaluation work

Qinghua University Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering yesterday said that they took the environmental assessment task very seriously and that they had set up an expert evaluation group headed by Chen Jining, the Institute director. The day-to-day work will be coordinated by Bai Qingzhong, head of Qinghua University's Environmental Impact Assessment office.

According to another clerk from the Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, the evaluation group includes experts from multidisciplinary fields such as environmental protection, ecology, geology and water conservancy. She said that the professors responsible for the environmental assessment were the Institute's own and absolute best, and that those involved in other fields of the report had come from other Qinghua institutes.

Jinghua Times yesterday paid the institute a visit and it was clear that the staff was on the task. They did not, however, want to comment on the assessment work now, but referred to the forthcoming progress report.

Translated by Kim Xiong and Camilla Wedul