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BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- China had cut all connections between environment impact assessment (EIA) agencies and the government by the end of last year, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said Thursday.
To ensure fair reviews, 358 EIA agencies, once affiliated with government's environment watchdogs, are now independent, according to the ministry.
The move will enable environment watchdogs to better supervise EIA agencies, the ministry said.
Among them, 179 agencies have set up independent companies.
In early 2015, government-affiliated EIA agencies were ordered to terminate all official connections by the end of 2016 to avoid corruption and conflict of interest.
Eight EIA agencies severed their government affiliations in 2015, and this had grown to 345 by mid-December 2016, according to the environment ministry.
China is now home to 984 EIA agencies and 19,700 EIA engineers, an increase of 90 percent from 2010.
