Shanxi Province is to close down more than 100 labor-intensive, low value-added and heavy-pollution enterprises, and to paralyze dozens of facilities that cause serious pollution, reported the Xinhua News Agency Sunday.

The provincial government will revoke the licenses of those blacklisted enterprises, and all the heavy-pollution facilities will be taken down by the end of November 2007.

Since its launch by the provincial government in 2004, the blacklist has witnessed the elimination of thousands of enterprises and facilities in the region.

China's newly released government work report has attached great importance to environment protection, placing it on the same level as GDP (gross domestic products) growth, rural issues, healthcare and education.

It is reported that Luliang in Shanxi Province along with three other cities have been blacklisted by China's top environmental watchdog on November 10 for performing poorly on their environmental impact assessments (EIAs).

"All new projects launched in the four cities will be halted by the SEPA (State Environmental Protection Administration)," said Pan Yue, the spokesman for SEPA.

"The cities do not have the environmental capacity to handle more pollutants," Pan said. "And yet they still develop industries that consume a lot of resources and produce a lot of pollution."

The other three cities are Tangshan in Hebei Province, Liupanshui in Guizhou Province and Laiwu in Shandong Province.

(China Daily March 13, 2007)