China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has decided to suspend the approval of the construction projects China Huaneng Group and China Huadian Corporation as a punishment to the parties' environmental infringement.

The only exceptions to the blanket ban are new energy and pollution control projects.

MEP stated that it would suspend the approval for the evaluation of the environmental impact of the hydropower projects from Huadian and Huaneng on the middle reaches of Jinshajiang River and the projects of the Shandong iron and steel industry as these projects go against with China's relevant industry policies and development plans.

According to Tao Detian, a spokesperson for the MEP, Yunnan Huadian Ludila Hydropower Company and Huaneng Longkaikou Hydropower Company began to construct the Huadian Ludila Hydropower Station and the Huaneng Longkaikou Hydropower Station, the middle reaches of the Jinsha River without undergoing any environment auditing and their behavior may have a bad effect to the ecology and life of people living in the upper and lower reaches of the Jinsha River. What makes the matter worse is that the two companies even started to block the water flow without waiting for approval. Tao said that the punishment for Huadian and Huaneng is expected to act as a warning to other Chinese companies and an incentive for them to fulfill their responsibilities to the environment.

MEP stressed that it would exercise strict control of the approval for projects with surplus capacity and would keep a track of the rectification actions of the companies that were punished this time.

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