Construction halt order takes hold

China's environmental authority said construction on 30 projects alleged to have started without their environmental impact assessments approved has stopped, state media reported. The projects are scattered over 13 provinces and municipalities and include three hydro plants belonging to the China Three Gorges Project Corp. One of the three, and the biggest investment to be halted, is the US$5.3bn Xiluodu hydropower plant on the Jinsha River which feeds into the Yangtze. Pan Yue, vice-minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), said work at eight projects where work continued despite January 24's cease and desist order, had now stopped. Environmentalists welcomed the news, though state media had little to say on what happens next.