Audit Commission: Some local misappropriation and interception of water pollution control funds

People's Daily Beijing, June 24 (Xinhua Gao Shing) The Nineth meeting of the NPC Standing Committee held its second plenary meeting this morning. Commissioned by the State Council, Auditor General Jiayi to the National People's Congress to report the 2008 central budget implementation and other financial revenue and expenditure audit.　　When referring to environmental protection special audit investigation situation, Jiayi pointed out that some local water pollution control Fund collection management is not strict enough, some departments and units less levy, set to marry misappropriation and interception of water pollution control funds.　　Jiayi said that in recent years, water pollution control and energy saving and emission reduction efforts have made positive progress, but pollution control and emission reduction tasks are still relatively arduous. First, the water pollution control measures in some areas have not been fully implemented in place.　　As at the end of 2007, of the 86 sewage treatment plants planned for the 13 cities in the Bohai Rim region, 23 have not yet commenced construction, and in 34 development zones, 15 have not been built into centralized treatment facilities, and 2007 tonnes of sewage have been discharged directly in 40 million years. Second, the supervision is not in place.　　As at the end of 2007, 7 of the 16 temporary dumping areas in the Bohai Sea had exceeded the expiry date and were not closed in accordance with the regulations, and there were some problems such as the government intervening in maritime law enforcement, the competent authorities failing to approve dumping or dumping by unauthorized units. Third, some local water pollution control Fund collection management is not strict enough. "Sanhe Three lakes" Basin 13 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) of some departments and units less levy, set to marry misappropriation and interception of water pollution control funds of 4.168 billion yuan; in the Bohai Sea area 13 city less Levy,　　Illegal use of water pollution control funds, such as 1.185 billion yuan, of which 530 million yuan was moved to supplement the environmental protection sector funds and sewage treatment fee collection enterprises, such as production and management. In addition, the 41 central enterprises in the audit survey, as at the end of 2007, 36 key energy-consuming enterprises have completed ahead of the "Eleven-Five"　　Energy saving 8.7981 million tons of TCE target, but 10 enterprises of the total amount of sulfur dioxide emissions exceeded, 9 enterprises of the main pollutant emission levels exceeded, the task of reducing emissions is still relatively arduous. In response to the above problems, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and other departments and relevant local governments are studying and improving the relevant policy measures, and rectification. The Bohai Environmental Protection Master Plan (2008-2020) was approved by the State Council at the end of 2008, and the Development and Reform Commission is taking the lead in drafting suggestions on strengthening the reclamation management. The relevant local governments are recovering funds that are less, diverted and withheld, and are held accountable by the relevant personnel. The relevant central enterprises are taking measures to speed up the elimination of outdated equipment and technical renovation to ensure that the energy saving and emission reduction tasks are completed on time.