Xifeng county optimizes environmental practices of local businesses

On Aug 3, Xifeng county of Guiyang city, in Southwest China's Guizhou province, announced a series of measures aimed at improving the relationship between businesses and the local environment.

Among the measures, local environmental protection departments are being encouraged to speed up the examination and approval of projects, select appropriate development sites and prepare for environmental impact assessments.

To simplify the administrative process and save time and materials, local authorities have deepened reform of the examination and approval system and worked to reduce unnecessary procedures.

Authorities in Xifeng are also encouraging enterprises to enhance their understanding of ecological issues and take responsibility for implementing environmental protection policies on their own.

Companies are also being instructed to responsibly dispose of volatile organic compounds and solid waste, as well as combat dust pollution.

To encourage transparency, the county is publishing environmental impact assessments for construction projects on the local government website. Local authorities are also encouraging the public to report developers that may be disregarding environmental rules.

Through the above-mentioned measures, great achievements have been realized. The administrative approval time for construction projects has been reduced to seven or 15 days from the previous 30-60 days.

Exemption policies are also being offered to low-pollution and low-risk construction projects, as well as companies manufacturing urgently needed medical supplies or conducting experimental research.

The positive environmental results have been particularly noticeable: In the first half of the year, 98.9 percent of days in the county registered good air quality. Additionally, the quality of surface water in the Xifeng section of 15 main rivers and the quality of centralized drinking water sources reached 100 percent.

Also, 83.6 metric tons of medical waste was properly disposed of by Guiyang Urban Development and Investment Co.