Industrial projects face tighter rules in Tibet

A tighter policy for new industrial projects in the Tibet autonomous region will be implemented to sustain the progress the region has made in environmental protection, according to a report released by the Tibet environmental protection bureau on Friday.

“We won’t develop the economy at the cost of the environment,” said Zhang Tianhua, deputy director of the region’s environmental protection bureau. “Projects or companies with high energy consumption and pollution will not be allowed to register in Tibet. They will undermine the capacity of the environment in Tibet.”

The autonomous region has witnessed sound progress in environmental protection with the quality of air, water, soil and solid waste disposal greatly improved, thanks to a series of powerful measures.

Ninety-eight percent of the days in the region had good air quality last year, up 7.5 percentage points from 2016, according to the report.

Lhasa, capital of the region, saw 361 days with good air quality in 2017, ranking second of 74 cities monitored by the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre. Air quality in Nagqu prefecture was dramatically improved, with its days of good air increasing from 58.5 percent in 2016 to 90.8 percent in 2017.

Zhang said that more residents in the region now have access to clean and safe drinking water as water management has been stressed in environmental protection policies.

Over 100 million yuan ($15.6 million) in funding from the local authorities was channeled into projects to improve water safety in the region.

Four more wastewater treatment plants were built up in the region due to an investment of 680 million yuan from the government in 2017, with newly built pipelines stretching over 55 kilometers, the report said.

Environmental inspection was also emphasized by local administrations in 2017, with crackdowns on polluters in industrial and agricultural areas.

The report said that 761 companies were punished last year, with penalties reaching over 26 million yuan, 13 times that of 2016.