The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has halted the construction of six aluminum plants for violating environmental impact assessment (EIA) law, an administration official said in Beijing on Thursday.

Zhu Xiangxing, director of SEPA's EIA department, said it had ordered them to submit EIA reports for approval within a required period of time, and that it would only approve those that "could make rational use of resources and install pollution control facilities."

The six projects had begun construction without submitting EIA reports, in serious breach of environmental law, said Zhu.

They include five alumina (aluminum oxide) plants with annual production capacity between 300,000 to 400,000 tons in the central provinces of Henan and Shanxi, and one electrolyzed aluminum plant in Shanxi.

Zhu added that the move was in line with the country's macro-control measures aimed at halting over-construction in some sectors and reining in the overheating economy.

Output of electrolyzed aluminum surged from 3.4 million tons in 2001 to 6.7 million tons last year, far outstripping domestic demand.

Used as a raw material in the production of electrolyzed aluminum, demand for alumina has also risen sharply.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2005)