China's Ministry of Environmental Protection said Friday it would impose "economic punishment" on six companies for violation of emission reduction regulations.

The six companies - five power enterprises and one chemical enterprise - were accused of abnormal operation of desulfurization facilities or of cheating in emission reports, ministry spokesman Tao Detian said.

Three of the six companies are from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Two are from Sichuan Province and one is from Shanxi Province.

Tao did not elaborate on the "economic punishments."

Tao also said the ministry has suspended environment impact assessments of new projects in Shuangyashan City, Heilongjiang Province, and Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, that require new chemical-oxygen demand (COD) and sulfur dioxide emission quotas.

The ministry also ordered ten other enterprises to correct themselves within a specified period.

Tao announced the punishment of the cities and enterprises when announcing the 2009 reductions of COD and sulfur dioxide emissions of provinces, regions, municipalities and five major power groups.

Chinese cities' daily sewage treatment capacity increased 13.3 million cubic meters in 2009 and the installed capacity of desulfurized coal-fired power generating units increased 102 million kilowatts.

China has a target to reduce COD and sulfur dioxide emissions -- two main indicators of air and water pollution -- by 10 percent between 2006 and 2010.

China's COD and sulfur dioxide emissions fell 3.27 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively, year on year in 2009.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24, 2010)