The old Summer Palace in Beijing has been given 40 days to hand in an environmental assessment of a plan to cover most of its lake bottoms with plastic.

The State Environmental Protection Administration announced the ultimatum after the project was stopped last month because of heavy criticism from the public. The project is aimed at maintaining water levels.

China's environment watchdog says the assessment is a legal requirement. But nearly a month has passed and no evaluation has been sent in.

The administration told the Beijing News that according to the Old Summer Palace commission, no company is willing to take on the project.

(CRI.com May 10, 2005)