Govt step up supervision of environmental protection

The Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance jointly launched a plan to expand the management of environmental protection measures during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).

The plan involves a total investment of 40 billion yuan ($6.53 billion) by 2015 and focuses on enhancing supervision capabilities in areas such as environmental monitoring, alerts and an emergency control system.

A similar development plan for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) involved a total investment of 15 billion yuan.

"As environmental protection standards are improved, investment for the construction of a supervision system should increase accordingly. On this occasion, 40 billion yuan investment is not too much," said Luo Jianhua, secretary-general of China Environment Service Industry Association of the All-China Federation of Industry & Commerce, to National Business Daily.

The plan, which mainly covers air and water protection, failed to address soil pollution.